Over The Hills And Far Away
by Bananahara
Summary: Eren was born to the wealthy Jaeger family, with a doctor for a father and a baker for a mother. On the contrary, Armin became an orphan at the young age of ten and has since been raised by his gambling-obsessed uncle. Despite the differences these two have, they both have the same goal: to run away and go to that place over the hills and far away. Runaway AU. Eremin.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes: **Hello! This is my first time writing for eremin, but I do love this ship dearly! I hope you all enjoy this AU. The inspiration came to me very randomly one night, and I've grown rather fond of the story so much that I've even decided to put off other stories that I had planned to write just to get this one out of my system faster lol

**Triggers: **There may be light cursing, and suggestive scenes in this fanfiction. Although the story may have mentions of/scenes with sexual content, there will not be any explicit smut.

* * *

><p>The bedroom was pure white, practically glowing, and in the utmost condition. It was hard to believe that a boy, no less a teenager, was living in such a regal looking room. Though, for Eren Jaeger, it wasn't at all unusual.<p>

The wallpaper was a simple white with a cream coloured lining running across the top and bottom. The curtains, the desk, the bed, bookshelves, everything was white. It wasn't his choice, it never was, his parents chose each and every small detail of his room and he despised it.

He often dressed in dark and harsh colours to express his rebellion, but his parents assumed it to be a passing phase and didn't take him seriously. He wasn't even sure why he had expected them to.

Although he'd been raised in a lively mansion since birth, he never felt quite at home. His father, a doctor, had expectations that Eren was certain he could never live up to, and frankly, he had no interest in doing so.

Much like the framed diplomas in his father's study, Eren was just a prop to him. Something to show off to his many spectators at parties. 'My proudest accomplishment yet!' was one of the many cheesy lines he would spout while showing Eren off to his friends. His tone suggested that he thought otherwise, and it wasn't hard to see that his father was envious of his many friends who had better, and harder working children than he.

His mother's love for him was something different altogether. She loved him, and in a genuine sense. This unconditional love was returned by Eren, but became more strained as he grew older. He had been sensing for some time already, that his mothers relationships were more important to her than the one she shared with him. She cared more about looking good to the neighbours, appearing as the best wife and mother in town, that she was nearly neglecting her actual duties as a mother because of it.

He knew his birth was purely for the social benefit of his parents- and he knew that he disappointed them greatly even if they didn't state it out loud. He didn't have an interest in the life they led, and he did love them as his parents, but more than anything, he desired personal freedom.

Laying on a mess of ruffled sheets, Eren was flat on his back. His skin was purely bare, the buff beige tone being the perfect contrast to the soft ivory of his boyfriends skin, who currently sat on his pelvis.

Eren held onto the boys small hips as they bounced up and down, gripping the soft skin between his fingers gently.

Looking up at the boy's blushing face, it suddenly dawned on Eren how different their lives were.

His name was Armin and unlike Eren, he excelled in school but was never used as a bragging right by anybody because frankly, he didn't have many people. His parents had died when he was only ten, leaving him a young orphan in the care of his only living relative, his uncle who spent most of his nights gambling away in another town.

His wasn't wealthy in the slightest, but it didn't seem to bother him either. He was easy to please, usually finding himself absorbed in some new and exciting book.

There was a certain lonesome look about the petite boy, but he wasn't at all the brooding type. It was because Eren knew him so well, and for so long, that he noticed such a small detail, and after having realized it, could never un-see it again.

"E...Eren...?" Armin breathed softly. "Eren... You... You have to move your hips, too..."

Eren suddenly lost his previous train of thought. His lips curled into a small smile and he tightened his grip on the boys hips just slightly. "Sorry, A...Armin. I got a bit distracted."

"I...It's okay."

* * *

><p>After they had finished having sex, the two remained cuddled against one another. Eren's arm rested underneath Armin's shoulders, while Armin loosely had his arms wrapped around Eren's waist.<p>

Feeling cozy in Eren's over-sized shirt, Armin rested his head against the open space between Eren's chin and shoulder.

In return, Eren gently kissed the top of Armin's head and pulled him in closer. "Are you comfortable?" he asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"Mhmm." Armin hummed quietly. He closed his eyes, and breathed in the atmosphere. The air felt peaceful, and safe to him.

"I'm so tired of this." Eren had stated randomly.

Armin pulled away from the embrace and stared at Eren with sunken eyebrows. "What..?"

"I don't mean the sex!" Eren quickly corrected himself. "Sorry, I should have phrased it better. I meant that I'm tired of living this way."

"I still don't really follow along." Armin said, curling his hair behind his ear with his fingers.

He had that habit, Eren had noticed, whenever he had felt embarrassed. He wasn't even sure if Armin was aware of this himself, but it was the quickest indicator that he was feeling uncomfortable.

"Suffocating in this house," Eren explained, as he ran his hand up Armin's waist. "It's getting harder to stay here day after day. My urge to run away from here is just getting stronger all the time."

Armin's expression fell after hearing his comments. He stared down at his own hands for a moment before replying, "Yeah, me too. I know what you mean."

Eren casually pulled Armin in closer, and whispered in his ear, "We could just run away together, and leave it all behind, you know. Elope or something."

"You always say that.." Armin murmured in response, as he clung to Eren's chest.

"I know I do, but I really mean it, Armin."

"I know.. but... It's just a bit scary, I guess. The world is so infinite."

"So don't you always say that you want to see more of it?"

Armin remained quiet for a moment. He hid his face in Eren's chest as he gave deep thought to the question. He did love the thought of travelling the world and experiencing it's many wonders that, because of his poor lifestyle, he could only dream about. He didn't want to have any regrets about the choice he made, but he was young, only a junior in high school, and didn't feel he was ready to make a big choice like leaving his current life behind.

"I'm just scared," Armin finally spoke up. "that it might turn out to be the wrong choice, and then we'll never be able to come back."

"That's not true. The world is so much better when it's just you and me, there's no way it's the wrong choice." Eren objected.

Armin closed his eyes. "I know. I like things when it's you and me, but..."

"We could see the ocean, you know?" Eren interrupted. A moment of silence followed, and he knew that he had caught Armin's attention. "We could see any ocean we wanted to. We could go over the hills and far away. We could go any place we ever wanted to. Doesn't that sound better than being stuck in this town forever?"

"Yeah, it does. I want to agree to go with you Eren, I really do. It's just that I don't have any money, or a phone, so what if something happened?"

"I have those things, so we'd be fine. We could stay in motels and stuff."

Armin shuffled around a bit, and looked up at Eren. "What made you start talking about this, anyway?"

Eren shrugged a shoulder. "I just thought that if we wanted to run away then right now would kind of be the perfect time."

"Why?" Armin furrowed his brows.

"My parents are having a party down stairs right now. They know I never go to them, so they wouldn't bother coming up here to see what I'm doing until tomorrow morning." Eren explained. "Plus, your uncle is gone for the night so you could go home and get your things, too."

"That's true." Armin concluded, softly.

"Well," Eren let his voice drift off slightly before adding, "only if you wanted to, though."

Armin's gaze drifted thoughtfully around the room before finally landing on Eren again. "It's not that I don't want to." he mumbled. He then frowned and quietly continued. "I'm sorry, I know I'm being a coward."

"You're not, Armin. Don't say that." Eren sighed. "Hey, listen, I don't mean to pressure you into anything. I'm sorry that I brought it up."

Silence followed Eren's comment, and he thought that he'd accidentally said something wrong again. Unknown to him, Armin was just heavily contemplating the idea. It continued on for nearly twenty minutes, until Armin finally broke the silence.

"I'll go with you." he stated in a serious tone.

Eren was taken aback by the sudden change of mind. His mouth hung slightly open. "Really?"

Armin nodded his head. "Yeah. It's lonely at home, and besides," he smiled. "I trust you."

Eren grinned widely as he watched Armin tuck his hair behind his ear. "If you're sure then we should start getting ready now."

"Okay, yeah, um, then should I go home and get my things and then maybe we'll meet somewhere at a certain time?" Armin asked.

Eren thought for a moment. "It's pretty dark out, though. I won't take long getting my stuff, so we can just walk over to your place after."

"I'd be fine on my own, Eren." Armin objected quietly.

"Yeah but," Eren said as he rose from the bed and began to dress himself. "This is the beginning of our life together. So starting now we should go with each other every step of the way."

Armin sat up on the bed and tilted his head against his shoulder. He observed Eren changing for a moment. "That's true."

The conversation had ended there, but the following silence wasn't at all uncomfortable. Eren had quickly gathered the things he considered to be the most important to himself. Clothing, his cellphone, his wallet, and a few other various objects were tossed into his backpack and then slung over his shoulders. He had quickly written a small note to be left on his bed for whoever who discover he was missing first to find.

By that point, Armin was also fully dressed and the two were prepared to go.

"Should we leave out the window, or something..? Your parents are having a party down-stairs, after all." Armin reminded him.

Eren shook his head. "It's fine. We'll leave out the back door, nobody will even notice." he explained, and then extended his hand toward Armin. "Ready?"

Armin smiled faintly and nodded his hand. He accepted Erens hand, interlocked their fingers, and stood beside him. "Yes, lets go."

Just as Eren had said, the two had gone completely un-seen while walking down the stairway and through the back door. Armin had been a bit nervous about somebody seeing them, but when he had glanced over his shoulder, he realized that everyone was too engaged in their own personal activities to care about anything else.

He wasn't sure why, but he thought that he might have a felt a little disappointed. He was envious, as well, that people so impossibly wealthy existed and that parties were probably just as common to them as school was to him. Although he was dating someone rich, he'd never really felt that way about Eren. He wasn't anything like the way he'd imagined wealthy people to be.

The walk to Armin's house was surprisingly short considering how different his house was from Eren's. They both just happened to live at the edges of their communities, Armin of course being on the poorer side.

The house was small, and had only one floor. It had two bedrooms side by side, his uncle's and Armins, and then there was a single bathroom, the kitchen, and living room. It was a nice, and modest house, and he wouldn't mind living there as much had he not been left on his own so often.

Entering the house, Armin suddenly felt a pang of nervousness. Perhaps it would be his last time being there ever again. Thinking about him was making him feel a bit homesick already but he knew that he had to push those feelings aside.

"I'll only be a minute to pack my things." Armin stated. "You can wait in the living room and relax for a moment if you want."

"Sure." Eren nodded and set his bag down. After he took a seat, Armin disappeared into his room and quickly got to work.

He emptied his school bag of it's notebooks and pencil case. He didn't have much clothing, so he was able to pack a fair amount of his favourite outfits, along with necessities like a hair brush and his tooth brush, those kinds of things. Lastly, and possibly the most peculiar of all, he packed a small and very worn-out picture book.

After he'd finished packing, he decided to scribble up a quick note to leave behind. Had he been given more time, he'd have tried harder to make it more poetic. Instead, he wrote this:

_If you're reading this note, then you've probably noticed that I'm gone. If not, then I'll use this as a chance to tell you that I'm leaving this house. But it's not because of you, I promise. I love you lots, but I know that you have a busy life to live. I'm sorry that I've been a burden this long, but I think it's time for the both of us to start a new chapter in our lives. Maybe this way we can both be free. _

_Please don't worry about me, I'm going to be fine. And please don't phone the police. I'm almost sixteen now, so soon it will be legal for me to live on my own anyway. _

_Remember to take care of yourself, too. I hope we can meet again some day, but until then I'll be saying goodbye to you. _

_Love, _

_Armin. _

_P.S. I really do mean it when I say that none of this is your fault. You've been great to me. So please don't blame yourself for this! _

He held the note in his hands for a few moments and stared blankly at the words. After deciding that he had finished everything he needed to do, he set the note on his desk, and in place of his currently absent uncle, said goodbye to it.

He returned to the living room where Eren had patiently been waiting.

"Hey!" Eren stood up and smiled. "You get everything?"

Armin nodded his head, and that time, extended his own arm towards Eren's and offered his hand. "I'm ready to go now, Eren."

Instead of holding onto his hand like Armin had expected, Eren instead took a step forward and tightly embraced the other boy. "This is going to be such a good thing for us, Armin. I promise."

"I know." Armin mumbled in response as he raised his arms and returned the hug.

"You're really sure that you want to do this? I'm not pressuring you?" Eren asked.

Armin laughed quietly. "I told you already, I want to go with you. It's my own choice."

"I just want to be sure." Eren smiled in return. "If you're absolutely sure, then it's time for us to go."

Armin nodded his head. "Lets go start this new chapter of our life together."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Thoughts? I hope you all liked the opening chapter to this story. I somehow managed to spit this chapter out in only two days time so I hope it's alright. Reviews would always be appreciated. Thank you for taking time to read this so far.

Well then, I hope you're all ready because we're about to embark on a journey over the hills and far away!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** The three random men who show up in this chapter aren't characters from Shingeki! Just so you don't get confused trying to figure out who they are. This chapter is their only appearance, so don't worry about remembering them too much.

**Trigger: **There will be a scene featuring a sexual assault (and slight eye trauma) in this chapter. (Not Eren or Armin sexually assaulting the other though!)

* * *

><p>It was ten in the morning of the following day. After leaving Armin's house the night before, the two had taken a two-hour long walk to the nearest train station, and then sat waiting for a few more hours until the station opened. Eventually, at nine-thirty, they were able to board on the earliest ride to the next city.<p>

It had been a cold night, and neither Eren nor Armin had gotten a wink of sleep. Armin sat pressed against Eren's arm on the train. To keep warm, he had crammed his hand into the other boys pocket. But Eren didn't mind. Rather, he would respond by entwining their fingers together, and pressing his cheek softly against the top of Armin's head.

Armin was unusually talkative on their trip. He spoke of his past in particular, his mother, his father, his uncle, even the children who bullied him when he was younger. His memories were all so vivid, and he explained each of his stories in strong detail. Eren was beginning to get the strange sense that the other boy was already getting second-thoughts and regretting their decision, but each time he would try to comment on it, Armin would end his story in the same way, "But it's okay now, because we're together."

One story in particular that caught Eren's interest was when Armin began to discuss the 'Mobile Girl.' She had been something of an urban legend in their home town, and every kid knew the legend, with a difference or two in each tale.

Basically, as they both knew the story, the Mobile Girl was a teenager who dropped out of school and ran away from home. She went to the city to live a more fruitful life but one day received a text message from one of her old school friends. The message, though this part was often changed from story to story, roughly stated: "I think my boyfriend is going to kill me. Please, you have to save me! I have nobody else to turn to!" Immediately, the Mobile Girl made her way back to her old town and beat up the girl's abusive boyfriend, making him cower and run away in fear. After that, the Mobile Girl once again vanished mysteriously. The story made it's way around town, and people began to text the Mobile Girl whenever they found themselves in trouble. She would always show up and save the day, and then vanish just as mysteriously.

It was just a rumour, of course. Something that the children in town liked to gossip about, and fight over the differences in the story. It was something that even Armin and Eren had talked about before, when they had just entered high school. They hadn't spoken about it since, but suddenly Armin had brought it up again.

"I just thought that," Armin paused to think for a second. "She's a run-away like us. Our stories are a bit different, but maybe kids will talk about us one day too."

Eren had just thoughlessly responded with a casual, "Uh-huh." but Armin didn't mind. He kept talking, all the way until they arrived at their destination.

"Sorry, Eren." Armin frowned apologetically as the train was brought to a stop. "I didn't mean to chat your ear off."

Eren responded by leaning forward and pecking Armin's cheek, who bashfully blushed in return.

After grabbing their bags, the two got off the train and made their first mission to find a cafe or diner where they could eat breakfast. It was enough that they hadn't slept, and spent a cold night outside, but they'd also gone without dinner the previous night and it was beginning to take it's toll on the both of them.

It wasn't long before they found a small family restaurant. They took up one of the booths to themselves, sitting across from each other while they ate. Unlike on the train, Armin didn't seem to have anything more to say. He was very quiet, and observant of his surroundings.

Eren watched him for a little while, noting that he seemed a bit more timid than usual. He assumed that Armin was just feeling nervous about being in an unfamiliar area, but he knew it would pass.

On the contrary, Eren was full of nervous excitement. He'd never been in the city without his parents before. The air felt different, almost lighter, filling his lungs with a feeling of pure liberation that he'd never felt before. It was a welcome change, he thought.

After breakfast, they began a long walk to a local motel that Eren had done a small bit of research on while browsing his phone on the train. He'd even managed to book them a room with his father's credit card number just from his phone. Sure, he wasn't eighteen but his photo I.D had a different story to tell. According to it, he was a pleasant baby-faced twenty-three year old man.

It was a one-bed motel room, and it was nothing special. There were the standard things each room had, a bathroom, television, window view, cabinet, and a mini fridge. It was a clean room, with pure white sheets and curtains.

Armin glanced from corner to corner, soaking in his new surroundings. He set his bags down on the bed, and removed his sweater. He looked to Eren, with a small smile, "I like it. It's a nice room."

"It's alright." Eren murmured. He was already sitting on the bed and tinkering with the remote control, flipping through various channels.

"How long are we staying for?" Armin asked as he took a seat beside Eren.

"I have us down for two weeks," Eren began to explain, finally settling on a music channel. "We could leave before then, or even stay longer if you want. It's up to you."

Suddenly feeling the pressure of shouldering the decisions, Armin shook his head. "Anything's fine with me, too! I don't really want to dictate what we do or anything."

Eren looked directly into Armin's eyes and smiled at him. "Hey. It's just you and me now, Armin. If you wanna do anything, all you have to do is say it and it's done. That's the kind of life we're living now."

Armin smiled in return and nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right. Oh. I did have one more question, though."

"What?"

"We checked in here with your father's credit card number, right?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well," Armin hesitated. "It's probably expensive to stay here for this long, won't he want to track the number down? He might find us, in that case."

"He won't." Eren stated flatly. "Trust me, he doesn't care enough. He'll know that it's me spending the money here, and that'll be the end of it."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah."

The moments following were spent in complete silence. Armin stared at the floor just ahead of his feet, while Eren was absent-mindedly watching a music video countdown on the television.

The program had ended shortly, but the silence continued. Deciding to break the awkward air, Eren leaned in toward Armin and casually said, "So I noticed they have a pool here."

"Eren, it's September." Armin laughed. "Besides, I don't have a swim suit."

"You can just borrow one of mine." Eren suggested. "And it looks pretty sunny outside to me, so it'll be fine. "

Armin reluctantly agree'd to go to the pool after moments of Eren trying to convince him . He felt slightly uncomfortable wearing a set of over-sized shorts, but he decided to couple them with a buttoned up shirt of his own, so he didn't feel so exposed.

Eren, however, wore just his shorts and a pair of sandals.

"I'm kind of surprised you brought all of these..." Armin laughed awkwardly.

"Well, it's still summer. The school term hasn't even started yet." Eren commented.

Armin was quiet after the comment, and the two quickly made their way out of their motel room and into the small pool area.

Nobody else had been there at the time. The pool was in a circular shape, looking to be about four meters from one end to the other. There were four lawn chairs on each side that had been chained to the ground, likely to prevent guests from stealing the chairs.

Eren grabbed two towels from a towel rack and set them both on a lawn chair for the two to grab when they emerged from the pool.

Looking at the still water in the pool, Armin fidgeted on the spot for a moment. "It looks kind of cold."

"It'll be fine," Eren laughed. "Just wait and see."

Taking a few steps back, Eren got into a running start position. Armin watched with amusement from the sidelines, as the other boy dashed forward and dove into the pool, creating a large splash that managed to soak Armin, who had until then been pleasantly dry.

After a few seconds, Eren re-surfaced and slicked his wet hair back. He grinned. "It's really nice! It feels like fresh water, too."

"Okay, I'll just put my feet in, then." Armin said, as he took a seat at the edge of the pool and dipped his toes on the surface of the water. "You lied. It's really cold!" he laughed.

"It's fine." Eren laughed along and swam over to where Armin was sitting. He stuck his head up and puckered out his lips, expecting a kiss.

Before responding, Armin did a quick glance around the pool area to make sure that nobody else was watching. After confirming that they were indeed alone, he closed his eyes and knelt over the pool side.

Eren raised his arms, wrapping them around Armins waist and suddenly pulled him forward. Armin let out a small squeak as his body was submerged into the frigid water.

"E-Eren!" He exclaimed, embarrassingly.

Eren laughed loudly and kissed the top of Armin's head. " It's easier to get used to the water if you just hop in, y'know?"

"It's mean to pull someone in when they're not ready yet, though." Armin pouted. He couldn't stay mad for long though, and eventually broke out into a small smile. "It's really peaceful here though. This motel is so cute."

"It is nice." Eren agree'd. He then leaned Armin against the pool's wall and whispered, "Hey, you ever done it in a pool before?"

Armin's face immediately burnt up in red, and he gave Eren a small push. "Oh my God, Eren, no!" he refused in a loud whisper.

"You know I'm just kidding." Eren leaned in again and closed the gap between their lips.

Armin was a bit hesitant to do so, but he returned the gesture, closing his eyes, and cupping Eren's cheek in his hand.

The kiss went on for a few moments, until Eren attempted to delve a little deeper and Armin gently placed a hand on his chest and pushed him away.

"Red light." he murmured, as he wiped his lip off. "Anybody could be watching us from their window right now. It's kind of embarrassing."

"That's true." Eren commented as he let his body sway back and forth in the water.

Armin's body sunk a bit deeper into the water, as he stared at their bodies take on deformed shapes below the water's surface. "I'm a bit thirsty."

"Want me to buy you a drink, then?" Eren asked as he drifted toward Armin.

"It's okay!" Armin quickly said. "I don't want you to go out of your way."

"Well, I'm kind of thirsty too. And there's a vending machine just around the corner. We could just relax on the lawn chairs and drink." Eren suggested.

Armin smiled and nodded his head. "Alright, that sounds good."

After deciding what to do, the two both exited the pool and dried off with the towels they had grabbed before. Armin shivered slightly, as he wrapped himself around in his towel as if it were a shawl.

Eren ruffled his own hair with his towel to dry it, creating a large mess of curls on the top of his head. "Just wait here and I'll be back with drinks, alright?" he asked as he grabbed a handful of change from his bag.

"Mhmm." Armin hummed as he continued to shiver under his towel. After Eren left, he took a seat on the nearest lawnchair and stared mindlessly at the pool water in front of him.

The water was so still, and clear. Infact, the entire area was so quiet and vacant that it almost felt like time was standing still and only he and Eren were the only two people left in existence.

He'd been so focused on gazing at the pool in that moment that Armin hadn't even heard the three men who approached him from behind.

"Hey, sweetie. You by yourself?" The first man asked. He was the tallest of the group, and had a spiked blond hairstyle. In his left ear, an earring was sitting it just the perfect spot to reflect the light of the sun.

Armin stared blankly at the three, and then looked over both shoulders to make sure that the men had been referring to him.

"Yeah, we mean you." The second man laughed. He was probably the best looking of the three. He had dark hair, brushed to the side of his face, and a mole under his left eye.

Armin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Oh." he murmured, still not exactly sure of how to answer the question.

The third man pushed through the other two and took a seat beside Armin, roughly putting an arm around his shoulder. "What's your name, baby?" he asked, his heavy breath reeked of alcohol.

"Please don't touch me." Armin stated fiercely as he took a stand.

"Ooooh spicy." The blond man teased. "She's a fun one. So, you here on business or pleasure?"

The dark haired man cupped one of his large fingers under Armin's chin and lifted his face up. "Hey, answer us. It's not every day we pay a girl like you attention, y'know? You should feel good about it."

"I'm not a-" Armin began to protest, when Eren's voice suddenly cut in.

"Hey, what the hell are you guys doing?" he asked roughly, holding a soda can in each hand.

The dark haired man had let go of Armin's chin, and stood tall. "We were just teasing her a 'lil bit, 'cause she's cute."

"Well he's my boyfriend, so stop touching him." Eren's tone was heavy, darker than usual, and quite threatening.

"It's okay." Armin said, he briefly gave the three man a glance and then turned to Eren. "They were just leaving, so..."

"Yeah, that's right." The third man said and ushered the other two to follow in his track as he did a quick walk in the opposite direction. A few murmured whispers were shared amongst the group, but it was too hard to distinguish what they'd been saying to Eren and Armin.

"What the hell was that all about? Did you know them?" Eren questioned, handing one of the soda cans to Armin.

Armin held the can in his hands for a moment, rolling it in his palm and letting the cold condensation send a chill through his body. "No." he said after a few seconds hesitation. "They just showed up a minute after you left, I don't know them."

"What did they want with you?" Eren was growing more frustrated and confused by the second. "Did they do anything weird to you? Hey, I could still catch up to them if they did anything bad."

"No!" Armin quickly objected. "They just thought I was a girl, that's all. They didn't do anything, though. Please, let's just... talk about something else. They were kind of creepy."

Eren sat beside Armin, on the neighbouring chair and leaned in toward him. "Hey, listen, I know you don't want to talk about it but if they did anything then you should tell me instead of keeping it to yourself."

"They didn't!" Armin's voice had raised higher than usual, surprising Eren and even himself. "I'm being honest. I can handle myself, Eren."

The conversation had ended there. Eren didn't question Armin any further, and the two instead agree'd that it was best to go back to their room to get some rest. It was still early in the day, but neither boy had any idea of what else to do. In the end it was just decided that sleep would do them good, after the long night that they'd had.

Although Eren had fallen asleep quickly upon contact with the pillows, Armin was deep in thought for hours to come and didn't quite feel himself drifting into a sleepy state until the sun was setting just outside the window.

* * *

><p>The next morning was greeted by darkened stormy skies. The ground was drenched with the previous night's rain. It gave the impression that a large storm had taken place, though neither Armin nor Eren had taken any notice of it until they left their motel room early the next morning.<p>

"Do you think it's going to rain again?" Armin asked as he stared up into the infinite grey skies.

Eren followed the other boy's gaze, held it for a second, and then turned his attention back to Armin. "Yeah, we should probably hurry to the store and back. It looks like it's going to come down any minute now."

As the two began to walk forward, a cold wind opposed them, pushing them back slightly with each step. Armin walked pressed against Eren's arm, who then quickly responded by entwining their hands.

Armin smiled faintly. "If only the weather were nicer."

"Yeah, it'll suck to be caged up inside all day, but I guess it happens. The rest of the week is supposed to be nice, though." Eren responded.

"That's good." Armin had concluded.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at the nearest convenience store. Infact, it was neighbour to the motel that they were staying at, with only a single crossroad in-between. It was a small store, but seemed to be popular with the locals. It didn't particularly stand out, but it was charming in it's own sense. A slightly aged, worn out looking green sign on the top read "TROST."

There was a large bulletin board on the outside window of the store with various advertisements, business cards, and missing cat/dog signs spread out. One page in particular caught Armin's attention, and he stayed behind to look at it.

"I'll follow in after, I just want to read this." Armin had said, and Eren didn't give it much though before taking leave into the store.

"Okay, just hurry up so you can help me pick out the toothpaste." Eren stated as he entered the shop and disappeared from sight.

Armin had smiled and nodded his head in response to the comment, but quickly turned back to the bulletin board.

The poster was plain in sight, but the title is what had caught Armin's attention. It stated 'Home-schooling Tutor Available' with a number written underneath. Not much information was given otherwise, but it was enough to grab his interest.

Since he didn't have a cellphone, he copied the phone number down on his hand with a pen he always conveniently carried in his pocket for such occasions. He shot quick glances from the paper to his hand a few times over to be certain that he'd copied it down correctly. When he was confident that he had, he turned around and was greeted by something tall and hard.

Taking a step back, Armin looked up and instantly recognized the three men from the day before. They smirked at him, as he took another step back.

"Hey, kid. Glad we caught you here." The dark haired male was the first to speak. The tone he used almost sounded like he was mocking him. "We wanted to confirm something."

Armin was hesitant in responding. He narrowed his eyes slightly and gulped as he asked, "What?"

"That kid the other day, he called you a boy, didn't he?" The blond man intervened, sounding irritated.

Already feeling the humiliation welling up deep inside of him, Armin nodded his head. "Yes. I am."

"He your boyfriend?" The blond man raised an eyebrow and took a step closer to Armin.

"Yes." Armin responded, desperately trying to think of something to say that could get him out of the situation. "He's inside the store waiting for me now actually, so I should be going." he quickly blurted.

"Not yet." The dark haired man retorted as he tightly grabbed Armins left arm. "We still haven't confirmed if you're really a boy or not yet."

Taking advantage of his moment of weakness, the third man began to open the buttons to Armin's shirt. He smirked sickly as he did so, and made his movements slow, almost as if he were mocking him.

In a desperate attempt to get away, Armin began to violently thrash his free arm around. He was still gripping tightly onto his pen, but hadn't noticed until one of his smacks suddenly made a soft, squishy noise. He released his hand from the pen, his mouth hung open in shock.

The dark haired man let go of Armin with such force that he nearly fell to the ground. He began to screech in horror. Sticking out from his left eye, in plain sight for all to see, was the pen that Armin had been holding only seconds ago. He clenched tightly onto the area around his eye, but didn't dare to remove the pen. A stream of blood began to ooze down his hand.

Armin stared in shock at the man. A wave of emotions came crashing over him, regret, sickness, and the strongest of all, fear.

It didn't take long before the other two men had Armin pinned against the convenience store wall by his neck. He coughed, and squirmed but, no matter how he struggled, he couldn't get free.

The last sounds Armin heard before blacking out were of the man's horrified screams, and the sound of his own head being thrust against glass window.


	3. Chapter 3

The room was purely dark, with the exception of the television's light radiating brightly at the front of the room. Very small and muffled chatter could be heard between three unrecognisable voices.

Armin slowly began to open his eyes, but they hadn't adjusted just yet. Through his vision, everything was black, with a white square placed right in the middle. It's light had almost felt blinding to him, and was painful to look at.

He slowly attempted to raise his body. The bed beneath him creaked ever-so quietly as he did so.

Suddenly, the voices became hushed. All attention turned towards Armin, who was attempting to prop himself upwards. He had a sleepy look on his face, but kept doing his best to get up, despite his shaky arms nearly collapsing underneath himself.

"W-W-Wh..." He tried to speak, but his voice was lost. He hadn't noticed it until then, but his throat was burning hot, like a fire deep within his body was re-lit every time he attempted a word.

Just as Armin could feel his body quaking in fear, a deep voice suddenly stated, "Eren, the kid is awake."

Eren quickly emerged from the bathroom door, and into the main section of the room. It was by that point that Armin had realized that they were back in their motel room.

"Armin!" Eren exclaimed as he hurried to the bedside. He took a seat on the edge of the bed and grabbed Armin's shaking hands. "Are you okay? How are you feeling?"

"O..O..." Armin tried to speak but his throat was still too dry to let any words escape. He tried to swallow back to lubricate it but was without success. Instead he raised a hand to his throat and furrowed his eyebrows to try and express himself with his actions.

Without warning, a water bottle was quickly shoved into Armins face. He stared blankly at it for a moment before his mind processed what was going on. He looked up, and a woman with dark hair and eyes stared back at him. "You're thirsty, right?" she asked, in a very monotone voice.

Armin slowly nodded his head and accepted the bottle. He held it to his lips and took three large gulps in a row. The cold liquid running down his throat only made him realize how badly it had been hurting. He stopped to take a deep breath afterwards, and then took a few more gulps. "Thank you." he murmured, as he wiped his lips off on his sleeve.

Cupping Armin's cheek in his hand, Eren leaned in toward him. Since his eyes were beginning to adjust, it was only then that Armin had noticed that Eren's right eye was completely bruised. He gasped quietly, but Eren spoke before he could comment on it. "How do you feel?"

"F...Fine.. I feel fine." Armin stuttered as he gazed at Eren's swollen eye. "What happened to you, Eren? What's going on?"

"Do you remember anything?" Eren asked, caressing Armin's cheek gently with his thumb.

Armin bit his lip as he glanced to his right, thinking back on the previous day's events. The memories had been pushed into the back of his mind, but quickly came flooding back to him. "Oh." he murmured. "Those three guys showed up again."

"Do you remember anything else?" Eren gave Armin's face a gentle push, forcing his gaze back towards himself.

Looking back into Eren's eye, Armin nodded his head. "Yeah. The one with black hair grabbed my arm, and the other one started to unbutton my shirt... And then, I accidentally stabbed the one with black hair in the eye." he gulped after recalling the last part in particular. "I stabbed him... i...in the eye... I wonder... I wonder if he's okay..."

"He'll never be able to see out of that eye again. The wound was pretty deep." A man's voice said. It was the same deep voice that had announced when Armin had awaken. Looking at him, he was a surprisingly short man. He had a black undercut, and dark eyes. "But who knows what he would have done to you if you hadn't. Those guys were ready to sexually assault you right in the open, but you protected yourself. It takes guts."

Armin looked down again. Eren had released his hand from Armin's cheek, and instead placed it on the opposite side of the smaller boys body, shifting all of his weight onto the one hand. "Is that everything you remember?"

"Yeah..." Armin nodded his head. He could feel hot tears brimming his eyes, but he was too stubborn to let them fall. Not in front of strangers, that would be too embarrassing. He wanted to ask who the two were, but he knew that if he tried to speak, then the tears would start pouring.

Eren stood from the bed. As if he had read Armin's mind, he held his hand up toward the woman. "Well, this is Mikasa," he began to explain, he then pointed his hand towards the man. "And this is her older brother, Levi. They're staying at this motel too."

To show that he was following along with the story, Armin nodded his head.

"We were all in the store when we heard a bang against the glass window. I knew you were there so I ran out and saw that these two guys had you pinned, while one of them was just screaming and yelling. I tried to fight them off because you were totally blacked out but," Eren paused and pointed to his black eye. "I couldn't take them on my own. Next thing I knew, Mikasa and Levi had shown up and taken both guys out in a wink. It was totally crazy. They're both crazy strong! If only you had of seen it, Armin."

"O...Oh..." Armin mumbled as he gripped tightly onto the bedsheets. "I'm sorry that I caused all of you so much trouble." he added, after a seconds hesitation.

Mikasa turned around and grabbed something from the round table in the far corner of the room. She then faced Armin, and extended her arm towards him with the object in hand. It was an orange, but Armin shook his head, in an attempt to politely decline the offer.

"Eat." Mikasa firmly stated. "You've been asleep for a long time. You need to eat to gain your strength back, or else you'll catch cold."

"I'll be fine, really." Armin weakly protested, although he did take the orange. He held it in his hands, and stared down at it.

"You had a fever until just an hour or so ago." Levi cut in. "We've been taking your temperature periodically. You need to eat or else you might get seriously sick."

Eren took the orange out of Armins hands and dug his nails into the skin. "Your body is probably still really tired, right? Don't worry, I'll peel it for you."

Armin stared back down at his empty hands. "I'm sorry. I've been such a burden to all of you. And I'm sorry that we had to meet in such an unusual way, really..."

"It doesn't matter, as long as you're okay." Mikasa said, as she sat in the nearest chair.

Eren handed one of the orange slices to Armin, and he began to quietly nibble on it, though he didn't have much of an appetite.

"Does your eye hurt, Eren?" he asked, after finishing the slice off.

"It's fine," Eren answered as he handed another slice to Armin. "It doesn't hurt much at all. It's kind of gross looking, though. I think I'm gonna buy an eye patch the next time I run to the store. That would look a lot cooler." he laughed.

"Speaking of, you need to go soon." Mikasa began. "You're running short on supplies here as it is."

Eren sighed. "Yeah, I know. I never ended up buying anything last time because of what happened. I should probably run over there soon."

"I'll go with you." Mikasa offered.

Eren grinned, and nodded his head. He handed the rest of the peeled orange to Armin. "Sure, sounds good! We should go now, before it closes for the night. Do you want anything, Armin?"

Raising his eyebrows in disbelief, Armin nervously asked, "Wait, you're going to leave me here alone?"

"No, not alone." Eren retorted. "Levi's gonna be here, right?"

Having remained fairly quiet until that point, Levi shrugged his shoulder. "I don't care either way."

"But I don't really know him..." Armin objected quietly.

"It's fine, Armin. He's not gonna bite your head off, and besides, we'll just be at the corner store. We'll be gone for a half hour at the most."

"Okay..."

Eren reached over and ruffled Armin's hair. "I'll get plenty of stuff to make you feel better."

"Thank you." Armin smiled faintly. "Hurry back, and be careful on your way."

Eren and Mikasa had left quickly. Seeming eager, Eren had already started striking up a conversation before the door had even shut. His voice was so loud that they could hear it carry on for another moment or so, but then gradually it faded out.

Levi had stayed sitting in his chair, and Armin on the bed. Neither one of them spoke, giving a very uncomfortable silent atmosphere to the room.

Eventually, after moments of this, Levi was the one to break the silence. "How do you feel?" he had asked.

"I feel good." Armin replied. "Well, I mean, I don't feel sick or anything."

"Do you feel sore at all?"

"My throat... a little bit."

"Ah."

There was a few more moments of silence. Armin's gaze hadn't moved from the same spot on the blankets. To be frank, he was scared to move quickly or look elsewhere. He wasn't familiar with the man, and after his experience the night before, was slightly intimidated by the stranger.

Despite this, Armin felt sorry for him. He was sure that he had much better things to be doing than watching him, and it probably felt like he was babysitting.

"I'm sorry for all of this." Armin shyly apologized. "We don't even know each other and yet you've been dragged into all of this. I'm sorry about that. I wish I could have defended myself better."

"Stabbing a man in the eye was a pretty good start, I'd say." Levi responded, sounding slightly amused. "I doubt he'll want to try and assault anybody again after that. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm fifteen." Armin answered, and quickly added, "I'll be sixteen in November, though. Eren is already sixteen, since he has such an early birthday."

Levi furrowed his brows. "That's what I thought. So, what are two kids like you doing in this motel alone?"

Armin suddenly felt his face get flushed of all colour. "Um... Well, we're just staying here for awhile."

"At the beginning of the school year? Without your parents?"

"Y...Yeah."

"Who signed you into the motel then?"

For the first time since they'd been left alone together, Armin turned his gaze towards Levi. "Why are you asking me so many personal questions?"

"Curiousity." Levi answered flatly. "I wanted to see if your answers matched with Eren's."

"Wh...Why?" Armin stammered. "I don't mean to be rude, but it doesn't really concern you."

Levi tilted his head in amusement. "It kind of does, actually. Because this is my motel, kid. And anybody under eighteen needs to be accompanied by an adult to stay here."

Armin held his breath as he stared wide-eyed at Levi. "Oh... Does this mean that you're going to kick us out?"

"I could call the police." Levi casually mentioned. "I won't, though. Frankly, I don't care that much."

"Then why... Why are you asking about this?"

"I just wanted to know that I was right." Levi stated. "And I wanted to know one more thing."

Armin felt hesitant to speak, but eventually he asked, "What?"

"Eren tells me that you're smart, and you do give that impression, so then what's a kid like you doing running away from home?"

Staring nervously at his hands, Armin twiddled his thumbs and searched for the words to properly express himself. "Because... I really do love Eren. As his boyfriend, I'd be happy to follow him anywhere he wants to go. I had my own reasons too, of course."

"Your boyfriend?" Levi asked, though his voice sounded slightly indifferent to the topic.

"Um, yeah. Didn't he say?"

"No, he said you were childhood friends and that's all."

"Oh." Armin felt as if he'd just been slammed against another glass window. "I think that I've said a lot of things to you that I shouldn't have."

Levi rested his chin in his hand, his arm perched on the chair's arm rest. "It doesn't matter much to me. Anyway, you should shower. It'll probably perk you up a bit."

Armin gave a small nod and threw the blankets off of his body. "That's a good idea." he agree'd, and wasted no time in escaping to the bathroom.

He locked the door as soon as he'd entered the room, and stared at himself in the mirror for a few long moments. He noticed right away that his face was very tired, and worn out. His skin was also paler than usual, making him look slightly unhealthy. He raised his chin, and examined his neck, noticing that there were bruises shaped like large, male hands.

He sighed, feeling discontent with his current appearance. It wasn't that he cared how he looked normally. He took care of himself, but never did anything out of his way to make himself look special. But at the moment, he was well aware that he was looking his worst and it made him slightly self conscious.

After eventually getting tired of looking in the mirror, Armin undressed and stepped into the shower. He turned the water onto a warm setting, and let the shower-head beam down on him. He stood still, for moments, just letting the water soak his every spot, and wash away all of the bad feelings that were consuming him.

* * *

><p>By the time Armin had finished showering and dressing himself, Eren and Mikasa had returned from the store. They both held a few large bags each, and set them down at the front of the room.<p>

Dressed in a cosy turtleneck sweater, Armin exited the bathroom to greet the two. A bit of steam wafted out of the room behind him from the hot shower water.

"Welcome back." Armin stated with a smile. Some of the colour in his face had returned, and as Levi had predicted, he was looking and feeling much perkier.

"Hey, Armin." Eren smiled, he was wearing a white patch over his right eye. The strings of it stretched out across his face, and tucked behind his ears. "We got a lot of great stuff, and hey, check out my new patch, it looks pretty cool, right?"

Armin considered confessing that he actually thought the patch looked pretty dorky, though in a charming sense, but instead laughed quietly under his breath and nodded his head. "It's cool on you."

"Right? I thought so too." Eren grinned from ear to ear.

"Oh, by the way." Armin walked a bit closer to Eren, and lowered his voice. "If possible, I want to talk privately with you soon."

His efforts to speak quietly had failed, because Mikasa was quick to respond, "We should be leaving now, anyway."

Levi stood from his chair, and walked passed the group. Before leaving, he placed a firm hand on Armin's shoulder. "Get better." he murmured.

"Thank you." Armin bashfully responded, as he tucked his hair behind his ear. "It was nice meeting the both of you. Again, I'm sorry about all of the trouble I've caused you."

Levi left the room, and Mikasa followed behind. Before leaving fully, she turned to face Armin. "Don't apologize so much. Just rest and get better." She closed the door behind her.

Eren locked the door after everybody had left, and then turned his attention to Armin. "You wanted to talk about something?" he asked.

"Yeah, um, see, I was talking to..." Armin began to explain, but he was suddenly cut off by loud _brrrriiiiiiing_ of Eren's cellphone.

"Sorry, hang on a minute." Eren slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Glancing at the screen, he exclaimed, "Hey, it's Reiner! Sorry, Armin, I've gotta take this."

Turning around, Eren began to speak loudly on the phone. A deep, booming voice could be heard on the other side. Since he didn't want to intrude, Armin quietly took a seat on one of the motel chairs and waited for the conversation to be over.

Ten minutes passed by quickly, and then another ten. By the time thirty minutes had passed by, Armin was growing slightly impatient.

Eren was sitting on the bed, still chatting wildly into the phone. Armin got onto the bed and crawled over to Eren. He tapped his shoulder to gain his attention, but Eren just stuck his index finger into the air to represent 'one more minute.'

Armin sat back, and quietly sighed to himself. "I'm going to bed." he announced, as he pulled the blankets over his face.

Continuing to talk on the phone, Eren glanced back at the bundle of blankets behind him. He noticed, though the movements were subtle, that the blankets quivered slightly. After remaining quiet for a moment, he could hear a soft sniffling.

"Ah, Reiner. Sorry, man, I've gotta go now. Yeah, sure, call you later. Bye." Eren took his phone away from his ear, pressed the hang up button, and tossed the phone aside to the end of the bed. He crawled over to the small bundle of blankets that was Armin and began to tickle his sides.

Armin squeaked loudly in surprise. "Eeek, no! Eren, stop!" he cried out in between laughter, and tossed the blankets aside.

At that point, Eren stopped tickling Armin and finally managed to get a good look at his face. It was evident from his puffy red cheeks and the wetness under his eyes that he'd just been crying.

"What's wrong?" Eren asked, gently stroking Armin's cheeks.

Armin sat up and took a few seconds to catch his breath. "Nothing."

"Bullcrap." Eren quickly retorted. "Why were you crying?"

Armin rested his forehead against Eren's shoulder. His hair was still ever-so damp from his shower, and the smell of the cocoa butter shampoo he'd used was still strong in his hair. "I wasn't crying."

Wrapping his arms around Armin's waist and pulling him in closer, it was almost as if Eren had already sensed what the issue had been. "I'm sorry, Armin. I know you've had a rough day. I didn't mean to ignore you." He ran his fingers slowly through the other boy's hair as he continued to whisper to him. "I know things haven't turned out how we planned so far. It'll get better, though."

"I'm just a bit homesick, I guess." Armin responded, as he gently gripped onto Eren's shirt.

"I know," Eren pressed his cheek against the side of Armin's head. "The feeling will pass soon."

"Yeah." Armin mumbled.

Eren lifted Armin's chin with his index finger and brought their lips together. Armin closed his eyes, his fluttering eyelashes tickled Eren's cheek. He returned the kiss, puckering his lips and gently pushing them forward. He cupped Eren's cheek in his hand, his fingers landed passed his ears, touching the ends of his hair playfully.

Pulling away from the kiss, Armin opened his eyes and stared directly into Eren's. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"It's... Well, I wanted to know why you told those two that we're just childhood friends."

"Huh? You mean Mikasa and Levi?"

"Yeah."

Eren scratched his head, looking uncertain. "Well, it's not wrong."

"Eren," Armin frowned. "We're boyfriends, aren't we?"

"We are, but," Eren suddenly felt awkward. "It's just... Listen, not everybody reacts well to hearing that, y'know?"

"I guess so. But I thought that you didn't care about what other people thought."

Eren shrugged his shoulder. "I just don't want to say or do something stupid that might get you hurt again."

A blush adorned Armin's cheeks as he gave an embarrassed smile. "You're sweet, but it's fine. Don't worry about me so much."

"Of course I worry." Eren pinched Armin's cheek jokingly. "I can't help it."

Armin giggled quietly. He lifted his head upwards and softly resumed his kiss with Eren.

The kissing continued on for a few minutes, until the two became sleepy, and fell asleep in each others arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note:** I have no idea why, but this chapter really killed me to write. It took me forever, and I'm still not entirely satisfied with the end result. It took a lot out of me, but here is the finished chapter. I think the chapter after will (hopefully) be easier on me, lol. Sorry for the wait, and I apologize in advance if this chapter isn't great ;;;

* * *

><p>"Ready?"<p>

There was nothing but pure darkness through Armin's point of view. He attempted to open his eyes, but very little light managed to leak through the cracks in Eren's fingers.

Armin laughed to himself, and attempted to pry Eren's hands off of his eyes. When he was unsuccessful, he replied. "Yeah. Can I open my eyes?"

"Yeah hold on one second. Keep them closed." Eren moved his hands, and quickly took a step back. "Okay, open them."

As he opened his eyes, Armin was greeted by the bright blue glow of water glistening through window. A bright array of fish swam by the glass window in all sorts of directions, and seemingly with no destination in mind.

Turning to face Eren with a grin on his face, Armin asked, "An aquarium...? This is so pretty, but... Why?"

"Why not? It's been awhile since we've gone on a date, and besides, I feel bad about everything that has happened so far. It's time for us to start having a good time." Eren smiled in return. He leaned down and pecked a soft, brief kiss onto Armin's lips.

Armin smiled bashfully beneath the kiss. A subtle blush adorned his cheeks. "It's like the official turning point for us, then. That sounds really good, Eren. Thank you so much for taking me out like this. It's so sweet."

"No problem. I thought you might be into something like this." Eren tilted his head to the side, gesturing for Armin to follow him. "Lets go."

Armin nodded his head and snuggled up against Eren's arm. He brushed his cheek against the other boys upper arm and smiled contently. "I'm so excited. I haven't been to one since I was a kid."

With his free arm, Eren pulled out his cellphone and quickly began to tap a message on his cellphone. "Me neither." he idly responded.

For the next while, the two decided to tour the aquarium building, gazing at the large variety of fish in awe. Occasionally, Armin would point to one he recognized, and babble a bunch of information about it to Eren, who barely understood a word of it but nodded his head along anyway. When Armin didn't recognize a fish, he'd stop to read the paragraph of information provided on the concrete wall below the window.

After deciding to take a break to rest their legs, the two wordlessly agree'd to stop and grab a small lunch before continuing on with their tour. Immediately, the small dining area caught their attention.

Looming above the cafeteria was a dome-like aquarium, with colourful fish swimming over-head. The center of the room was filled with white, rounded tables, that were nearly all occupied by families, friends or couples chatting and eating away. The entire area was remarkably tidy, and any mess left behind by a guest would quickly be swept away by the diligent workers.

When Armin spotted an empty table, he offered to save it while Eren bought the food. It was a decent spot, in the middle of the dining section, but closer to the right side of the room, so there was still an open view of the aquarium wall.

They parted ways briefly, and Armin sat at the time quietly until Eren arrived with two nutella and cinnamon flavoured crepes. He gave the cinnamon to Armin, knowing that it was his favourite. His face lit up, and he graciously accepted the treat.

They ate quietly together, until Eren proposed the idea that they take a photo together. Armin became bashful in response. "Ah, but I don't really look..."

"You look cute." Eren cut in with a wide grin. "Besides, it's been awhile since we took a selfie together, right?"

Having been convinced by Eren's sweet smile, Armin hesitantly agree'd. Eren got behind him, put his arms around him from behind, pressed their cheeks together and held his phone up high infront of them.

"The lighting is kind of shit." Eren commented, noticing the strong blue tint in the camera.

"It's kind of pre-" Armin's voice was suddenly cut off by a loud click. "H-Hey, I was talking in that one! Delete it!"

Eren laughed loudly. "Sorry, sorry. Okay. Lets try again. This lighting really sucks. Get closer."

"I can't... We're as close as possible." Armin retorted quietly.

"Okay, fine. Here goes." Eren clicked another picture. "Shit, wait, I think I was blinking in that one."

"We're terrible at this." Armin sighed.

Re-adjusting his position slightly, Eren brought the camera closer to their faces. "Okay, one more try. No talking, no blinking. We'll get this right."

Armin remained absolutely still as the photo was taken, and continued to do so even as Eren took his phone away from their faces.

"Finally! We got one. It's good, see?" Eren exclaimed, and showed the photo to Armin.

It was low quality, but the blue glow from the glassed walls was bright enough to reveal the faces of the two. Cheek-to-cheek, they both wore charming smiles, and looked as if they were having a lovely time.

Feeling flustered by the photo, Armin could feel his cheeks burning up slightly. "It's good... It's a really good picture of us." he murmured in surprise.

"Right?" Eren nuzzled his cheek against Armin's, then pursed his lips and softly pecked his cheek.

"Eren, people are watching."

"It's not like they're watching, anyway. It's fine."

"I guess, just a bit." Armin mumbled, as he turned his face back towards Eren.

Briefly, the two kissed.

An hour had passed since lunch, and the previous tour through the aquarium resumed. Though there was a change in the atmosphere, Eren was more indifferent than he had been in the morning, remaining more absorbed in his cellphone than anything else. Armin did his best to have fun despite it, but he was finding it difficult to keep Eren's interest for long.

After watching the tanks for moments quietly, Armin very gently tapped the glass in the direction of a particular blue fish that caught his interest. "Ah. It's a Blue Tang. I did a project on this type of fish once. In the sixth grade. You probably don't remember, but-"

Only briefly moving his eyes up from his phone, Eren commented. "Oh, our 'wet worlds' unit. I just kept laughing over the name, but I never actually did mine."

Armin laughed. "Yeah, that one. You and Connie got into a lot of trouble for that, I remember." He turned his gaze back to the fish, while Eren returned his attention back to his phone. "It's a pretty fish, I've never seen it in person like this before. It's a lot bluer than I imagined it would be. It's the type of fish that Dory from Finding Nemo was, I think that's probably why I picked it."

"Oh?"

Although he could tell that Eren wasn't listening, Armin responded. "Yeah. It was a fun project to do."

The same pattern went on to continue for some time. Armin would watch the fish swimming peacefully beyond the glass walls, and Eren would mindlessly tap away on his cellphone. Anytime Armin turned to speak to Eren, he would be greeted by the same indifferent attitude, and short responses.

Beginning to grow fed up with it, Armin spoke up. "You don't really like this kind of thing, do you? It doesn't suit you much."

Eren glanced up from his phone and raised an eyebrow. "Well, not really but I thought you'd like it."

"It's nice of you but I don't want you to feel bored at all. Maybe it should have been somewhere else..." Armin's voice drifted off wistfully.

In a tone harsher than usual, Eren responded, "You don't like anything I like, though. I'm fine here, Armin. Don't worry about it. Just keep having fun."

A deep feeling of anticipation was bubbling inside of Armin. He sensed vaguely that he may regret pushing into such a topic, but he continued to speak regardless. "It's not really that much fun when you're so obviously bored of it."

"Hey, I'm doing this for you. I thought you'd like it here." Eren was quick to respond. By that point, his full attention was on Armin.

"I do, but..." Armin thought before continuing. "That's not really the point. It's just better if we're both enjoying ourselves. I'm not so sure a thing like this can be considered a date if you're so disinterested."

"Wait a minute. What's that supposed to mean? 'This isn't a date'? It doesn't matter if I'm into this stuff of not, we're still technically on a date." Eren exclaimed, causing a few strangers passing by to glance their way.

Armin glanced to his side briefly, feeling his face flush. He looked back to Eren, and stated, "It just seems like you're more interested in your phone, that's all. This was the problem last night, too."

"Well, hey, it's not like I mean-" Eren began to object Armin, when a man passing by suddenly slammed into his shoulder. It wasn't a strong enough force to push Eren to the ground, but it was enough that it caused him to drop his phone in surprise. It made a large thud as it hit the ground.

"Hey dude, what the fuck? Watch where you're going." Eren wasted no time in bellowing at the man.

Eren bent over and picked up his phone. Turning it around in his hand, he saw that there was a small crack in the screen stretching from the bottom right corner, to the center. "You just killed my phone."

"Hah? You yellin' at me, kid? Maybe you shouldn't just be standing in the way, then." The man responded with a sarcastic laugh. He was only a few centimeters than Eren, with a lean, thin body and face. His hairstyle was a neatly shaved undercut, with a mess of blond spikes on the top.

"Jean, please don't start a fight." Another man spoke. He was standing behind the first male, but had gone unnoticed until that point. Unlike the first man, he had a soft and kind feeling atmosphere about him. He was slightly taller, had neatly combed black hair and an array of freckles spread across his cheeks

The one referred to as Jean huffed loudly. "He's the one who started this, Marco!"

"What the hell? You're the one who hit me! And besides, you need to take responsibility for this. My phone can't just fix itself." Eren held the cell phone up to stress his point.

Jean scoffed and raised his eyebrows. "I can't fix a fucking phone!"

"I mean pay for it, idiot!"

"Eren..." Armin mumbled timidly.

Marco smiled weakly at Armin, and spoke quietly to him as Eren and Jean continued to argue loudly. "Sorry about this, Jean can be pretty hot-headed at times. I hope we didn't ruin your um.. date?"

Armin was taken aback by the other man's friendly demeanour. "Oh, it's fine. It wasn't really going that well, anyway. Sorry for standing in your way."

"It's fine-" Marco had begun to say, but cut himself off when he caught sight of Jean, who had his arm pulled back, looking as if he were ready to hit. "Jean! Jean, stop it! He's just a kid!"

Marco quickly grabbed Jean from behind, pulling him back. Though Jean still had a tight grip on Eren's shirt with one hand, and refused to let go.

"Eren, please... You're causing a scene." Armin attempted to gain his attention. "Lets leave."

Not paying attention to Armins words, Eren continued to yell at Jean. "Let go of me, you psycho!"

"Say you're sorry, dammit!" Jean retorted, increasing his grip on Eren's shirt.

"What the hell?! You're the one who-" Eren pulled his arm back with such strength that Jean was forced to let go of him. His arm swung back harshly, clocking Armin in the nose, causing him to fall back to the ground before he even knew what had just happened.

Quickly clutching onto his nose, Armin moaned quietly. His eyes were shut tightly from the pain, as if tightening his face might make the ill feelings go away.

"Holy crap, Armin. I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Hey? I didn't mean to hit you, I'm so sorry." Eren's voice screeched. Although Armin couldn't see, he could tell that Eren was kneeling very close to his side.

Marco held his hand out, offering it to Armin. "Can you sit up?"

Taking a moment to respond, Armin painfully opened his eyes and saw the very blurry vision of a hand in front of his face. "Y...Yeah." he finally mumbled through his hands. He accepted Marco's hand, and used it to help himself sit upright. A strong surge of pain ran through his nose, and he automatically returned to tightly clutching it with his hands. It was a pain so intense that he was sure he was going to cry, but he bit his lip instead, holding the pain in and instead let out a small whine.

"Your nose is bleeding a little bit. Do you feel dizzy?" Someone had asked. It was one of the three, but Armin couldn't tell who anymore. He continued to look down.

"Huh?" It wasn't until then that Armin was even aware of the fact that his nose was bleeding. He dabbed at it with his finger tips and then gazed at them. Small blots of blood appeared, and it made him feel sick to look at. "Um... A little bit." he answered the last question.

Jean placed his hand on Armin's shoulder, giving him a quick but gentle shake. "Are you okay, kid? You look like you're zoning out."

"Y...Yeah, sorry." Armin responded quickly.

"Hey, can you stand?" Eren asked. He offered his hands to Armin, but they were immediately rejected as Armin shook his head.

It's not that he didn't want the help to stand. Infact, he knew he probably couldn't stand on his own with his head feeling so light and fuzzy. Rather, he refused it because of the blood on his hands, not wanting to soil anybody elses hands.

Eren seemed to have somehow received the message Armin was trying to send him, and instead linked his arms under the smaller boys armpits and quickly hoisted him up until he was standing on his own feet.

"Lets find a bench somewhere for him to sit." Marco commented as he quickly gazed around the area. When he spotted a free spot, he added, "Oh, over here looks good. Can you walk him over?"

Eren nodded his head and led Armin with linked arms, to the nearest bench. The two took a seat and Jean and Marco walked closely behind. Eren sat beside Armin, leaned forward and looked directly into his eyes as he said, "Hey, Armin. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hit you, I didn't see you behind me."

"It's okay, Eren. I'm fine." Armin gave a weak smile. It wasn't exactly the truth, but he didn't want Eren to feel bad about it either.

Marco took a step closer to the two. He knelt down infront of Armin, but kept his eyes on Eren as he spoke. "Eren, could you try and get some ice for him? There should be a help desk nearby. We'll keep an eye on him." His voice was gentle, and soothing. He placed his hand on Armin's knee. "Don't tilt your head back, keep it forward."

Armin, who had been holding his head back, quickly tilted it forward as instructed. "O-Oh, okay thank you."

Having observed until that moment, Eren quickly snapped back to reality and responded properly. "Yeah, sure. Hold on a minute, okay? I'll be right back."

"Please hurry." Armin smiled meekly.

With that, Eren turned on his heels and rushed off in search of assistance.

A silent moment passed them by before Marco took a seat beside Armin. In his calming voice, he asked, "Does the back of your head hurt?"

Armin shook his head. "No, it's fine. Just my nose."

Having been silent for some time, Jean finally spoke up. His voice was the perfect contrast to Marcos, being rough and straight-forward. "Hey, move your hands. I've broken my nose a few times, so I'll be able to tell if yours is or not."

Armin slowly lowered his hands and looked up at the two. "Is it bad?"

"O-Oh. It's a bit bloodier than I thought. It's not too bad, though." Marco attempted to re-assure him, but it was obvious to Armin by the surprise in his voice that it wasn't a pretty sight.

Jean unexpectedly gripped Armin by the chin and pushes his face from side to side, causing the small boy to clam up. "It's gonna bruise a bit, but it's not broken."

Through squished cheeks, Armin mumbled, "That's good... Can you please let go?"

"My bad." Jean laughed through his nose as he released Armins chin.

Armin returned to looking at the ground, and keeping his head tilted downward. He rubbed his nose timidly with his finger, feeling small throbs of pain emitting from it.

"So your name is Armin?" Marco asked with a smile.

Armin responded by nodding his head.

"My name is Marco, and he is Jean. This might seem a bit personal, but is Eren your boyfriend?"

"Ah.. Yes, he is. Um.. Are you two..?" Armin looked between the two.

Jean raised his eyebrows. "Boyfriends? Yeah."

Ignoring the rest of the conversation going on, Marco continued to ask Armin questions. "How old are you?"

"Um.. fifteen, almost sixteen. Eren is sixteen. The two of you are..?"

Jean was the one to answer again. "We're both nineteen, college students. You're in highschool, then?"

"Y...Yeah." Armin stuttered nervously.

Marco gave a fond-looking smile. "That's nice. You're both so young."

Eren quickly returned, running short of breath. He quickly shoved all of the items he'd been carrying into Armins hand, and dabbed at his bloody nose with tissue. "H-Hey, I got tissue and ice. Are you okay? Does you nose still hurt?"

Armin took the tissue from Eren and wiped the blood on his own. "I'm okay. It still hurts a bit, though... Is it still bleeding?" he asked as he lowered the tissue and lifted his head back slightly as all three boys gazed intently at him. He felt slightly embarrassed being stared at so much, but he patiently bared with it.

"I think it looks like it's done bleeding." Marco confirmed.

"Yeah, I think so too." Jean agree'd.

Eren took the ice from Armin's hands and held it up. "Ready? I'm gonna put the ice on it now."

Armin closed his eyes tightly in anticipation. "Okay. Go ahead."

He pulled away slightly as Eren brought the ice to his nose. The frozen sensation felt nice against his warm, throbbing nose, but was also incredibly shocking. It took a moment before he was finally able to relax and let Eren hold the ice still.

"Does it feel good?" Eren asked once Armin had settled down a bit.

"Yeah, it's good. Thank you for getting this for me."

"It's my fault you got hit, anyway."

Jean scoffed loudly, which quickly attracted everyone's attention. "Yeah, cause you were flailing your limps around like a damn animal."

"Oh that's really rich coming from you. Who was the one who was ready to start a fight in an aquarium of all places? Oh yeah, you." Eren hissed in response.

Jean stood up defensively. "And whose fault is that?!"

"Guys! Please!" Marco interrupted. He stood inbetween the two. "Your first fight got Armin injured. Have a little more respect, will you?"

Jean sighed and then sat back down again. "Right. Sorry, kid."

"Sorry." Eren mumbled immediately after. Briefly, he locked eyes with Jean and they both made disgusted expressions at one another before looking away again.

"It's okay, really... I didn't mean to ruin everybody's day like this. I should be the one who's sorry. But I'm feeling fine now, so please don't worry about me anymore." Armin insisted.

Eren was quick to object. "Hey, don't talk like it's your fault. I'm the one who's at fault here."

"Yeah, kid, me too. I hate to agree with this guy, but you have no need to apologize about anything." Jean said.

Armin began to feel flustered. He brushed his hair behind his ear as he said, "It's a habit, I guess." Moving the tissue from his nose, he added, "I think my nose bleed a little bit more."

"It did." Eren stated as he glance at it. "I'll get you another tissue. Stay put." He hurried off.

After Eren was out of sight, Marco leaned in towards Armin and spoke quietly. "Armin, can I ask you something?"

A little taken aback by the other boys closeness, Armin pulled his face back and hesitantly responded. "Sure, what is it?"

Raising his hand just infront of Armins neck, Marco reached forward and tugged gently at the boys scarf. "What are those marks around your neck? I noticed them at first when you fell earlier, but looking closer now, it looks like a pair of hands..."

Armin was quick to pull his scarf back up, re-covering his exposed neck. "O-Oh. It's from an accident a few days ago. It's a bit embarrassing, so I don't really want to talk about it. I'm sorry."

"Listen, Armin." Marco placed his hand on Armins shoulder and made direct eye-contact with him. "I know we just met, but I want to give you my phone number."

Through burning red cheeks, Armin somehow managed to stutter a nervous, "I'm s...sorry...?"

Marco laughed and waved his hand. "Oh God, that sounded awful. I'm not trying to hit on you or anything, but I know Eren's type. Hot headed boys can get out of hand sometimes."

It suddenly dawned on Armin that Marco had misunderstood his previous injuries. He felt a bit embarrassed on both of their behalves, but wasn't sure how to go about correcting the mistake. Before he got the chance to speak up, Marco did.

"People with tempers can get out of control sometimes. Trust me, I know."

"Is that supposed to be a jab at me?" Jean interrupted, sounding agitated.

Marco was quick to deny. "No! It's not! I mean, you're a bit similar to Eren, but you're not quite the same."

"Don't compare me to someone like him!"

"Jean, please... Anyway, Armin, I want to give you my number so that you can call me if you ever feel unsafe. Not just with Eren, but with anybody or anything. Is that okay?"

Armin shuffled around awkwardly for a moment, trying to soak in what was happening infront of him. "I'm not sure what you're suggesting. Mine and Eren's relationship isn't like that." He remained quiet for another second, contemplating his choices. "It would be nice to have somebody to talk to just in case, though. Are you sure?"

Marco lit up. He grabbed a pen from his breast pocket and held it up while tilting his head. "Of course! Where should I write it?"

"Ah... Just on my arm is fine." Armin rolled up his sleeve to expose his pale, bare skin.

Noticing that something was written on his arm already, Marco curiously looked at it. "Oh? What's this?" he took hold of Armins arm, turning it slowly as he read the message. "You already have my number?"

"H...Huh..." Armin stared blankly down at his arm. The only thing he had copied on his arm recently was the number of the home-schooling tutor from the convenience store. His eyes widened as he suddenly released what that meant. "Then that means that you're..."

Before Armin could finish his sentence, Eren had returned again. He extended his arm towards Armin, who quickly pulled his sleeves down."Hey, I got more tissue. Here you go."

"Thank you." Armin said as he took the tissue and held it against his nose. He dabbed it cautiously and pulled the tissue away to see that there was only a itty spot of blood. "It's only a little this time. So I think that I'm fine now. Thank you for helping, everyone."

The group parted ways shortly after, which left Eren and Armin to themselves. They both remained silent. Armin concentrated on the rhythmic throbs of pain surging through his nose, though it became less painful with each passing moment.

Eren was staring down at his cracked phone screen when he began to speak seriously. Unlike usual, his tone was quiet as not to attract any attention. "Hey, Armin. I have something to tell you. This is kind of bad timing, I guess."

Feeling as if his heart had stopped inside of his chest, Armin was hesitant to ask, "What is it?"

"I got a call, while I was getting your ice and tissue. Apparently my credit card got cut off. So it looks like we'll be leaving the motel around eleven tomorrow morning." He explained, not looking up even once.

Suddenly the throbbing in Armins nose halted. His mouth hung open slightly, he breathed quietly. "What..? You mean... We don't have any money now?"

"I guess. For now." Eren shrugged his shoulder. "How hard can it be to come across, though? We'll find more money somewhere else."

Armin blankly stared into the distance. The fish swimming beyond the glass walls was all he wanted to focus on in that moment. He didn't want to think about anything else. Not his injuries, nor Erens, nor the fact that they no longer had money to rely on.

The thing that really irritated him at that moment though, a revelation that had suddenly hit him with full force, was how ignorant Eren was about how the world really worked. The difficultly of earning a living, and being able to support not only one, but two people.

Armin was certain, at that very moment, that things would continue to get much worse for two of them.


	5. Chapter 5

"Is this okay?" Eren asked as he glided his hand down Armins body. Upon reaching his sensitive parts, he moved his hand up and down smoothly.

"Uh-huh."

"Good."

Armin stifled a small moan. He lifted his hand to his mouth and covered it.

"You can make noise, it's fine." Eren said. "We're leaving soon anyway, right?"

"Yeah but," Armin pulled the blankets up over his head. "It's embarrassing."

Eren ducked underneath the blankets as well, and laughed. "Your nose is all bruised."

"Don't look."

"Okay."

Armin reached forward, undoing the first few top buttons of Eren's pyjama top. Eren stopped him by taking his hand and interlocking fingers with him. Leaning forward, he kissed his pale, gentle lips, all while keeping his other hand stroking at a pleasurable pace.

Closing his eyes, Armin reciprocated the gesture. He moaned quietly underneath the kiss, and stroked Eren's hair with his fingertips.

"Do you want to do it?" Eren mumbled upon pulling away.

"We don't have much time, so..."

"Right, sorry."

"It's okay. It's fine. Lets just be quiet for now."

* * *

><p>After Armin came, the two remained rested in the motel bed for a few silent moments. Eren had loosely wrapped his arms around Armins waist, and he rested his head against the other boys chest in return.<p>

"Was it good?" Eren asked.

"Yes, thank you." Armin murmured as he brushed his hair behind his ear.

"Good." Eren glanced at the clock on the side table that read 10:57AM. "We have a few more minutes till we should be checked out. Should we go now?"

"Yeah." Armin concluded. Although they had decided to get going, another few moments passed until either one of them got up from the bed. They had already packed their things the night before, so they didn't take much time to collect their bags and exit the room.

Eren was the one to go to the front desk and return their room key. He chatted with the desk lady for a moment, and Armin silently watched from a distance. She was a pretty girl, looking to be no older than her early twenties. With her short ginger hair brushed neatly to the side of her face, she was very feminine in appearance and gave an overall friendly feeling. It was too far away for Armin to read her name-tag, but he heard Eren refer to her as 'Petra' as he left, waving his hand behind him.

"Are you friends with her?" Armin asked.

"Not really, no. I met her when we checked in here, and she was the one who called me about the credit card. She's nice, though." Eren explained.

"Oh." Armin nodded his head. "So... What do we do now?"

Eren thought a moment. "Get jobs, I guess?"

"Eren.." Armin mumbled. He smiled nervously. "We don't have resumes with us. It doesn't seem likely that we'd be hired in a day, anyway."

Shrugging his shoulders, Eren sighed. "We can go to an internet cafe, or a library and make some, I guess?"

Armin took a deep breath. It was hard for him to speak up to Eren in such a serious manner, but he knew that his plans were unrealistic, and the chance of them succeeding was very unlikely. He knew that if he didn't speak up, then he might never get the chance to again.

"Eren, listen." Armin looked up at Eren. He stared briefly at his eyepatch, but then turned his gaze to Erens good eye. "I...I think it's time we gave up on this. If we don't have the motel room, then we have nowhere to stay. And I'm not particularly fond of the idea of sleeping in the streets, begging for change. If we go home now then I'm sure your parents won't be angry. They're probably really worried about you and just want you home safe. And my uncle, too... I think we should call him. I know he's busy but I know that he'd come to get us."

Mouth hung slightly open, Eren raised his eyebrows in shock. "Are you serious right now, Armin? You want to go home? We haven't even been gone for a week. Everyone is going to think that we're a joke if we go back now. No way. I can't. I won't. I told you that we didn't have to run away if you didn't want to but you're the one who said you were sure of it."

"I know that, but," Armin's felt like his chest had suddenly gained ten extra pounds as he continued. "I didn't know it would be like this. Before this we've never really had a fight but lately that's all we've been doing. And we look like huge messes, Eren. Just look at us. Between the bruises on my throat and nose, and your hurt eye, we look like we've just been mugged. I don't think we'd survive even a night in the street. Please, I just... I want to go home. I don't care about seeing the ocean, or going over the hills anymore. I just want to go home."

"How could you say that?!" Eren's roared. He was practically foaming with anger at that point. "That's all you ever talked about at home. Going over the hills, seeing the ocean. That's what you always wanted to do, and because of that, you inspired me to feel the same way. But now that we're close, now that we've almost made it, you say you want to go back home?! Then what was all this? Were you just humouring me this whole time? Are your dreams that shallow?!" He took a breath. "I just wanted to do a nice thing, Armin. I wanted for us to experience the dream we shared together."

Taken aback by Eren's enraged reaction, Armin breathed timidly as he answered. "I know... I'm sorry. I know. I just didn't think it would be anything like this. We're young and stupid, and we didn't think this through. There was no chance for us to make it in the first place, and I wish we had realized it then. And I'm sorry for backing out like this but it's scary. The world is more vast than I realized, and we're too young to handle it on our own."

"I can't believe this. I can't believe you want to back out."

"What other choice do we have, Eren..?"

Having overheard the two yelling moments ago, Levi and Mikasa were quickly at the scene.

"What's going on here?" Levi questioned, glancing between the two. "You're causing a scene."

"It's nothing." Eren was quick to answer.

"We can't stay here anymore so we were disagreeing on where we should go." Armin cut in, correcting him.

Glancing at him through the corner of his eye, Eren said, "Yeah. That's all."

"Why can't you stay here?" Mikasa asked as she took a step closer to the pair.

"Their credit card got cut off last night." Levi explained. "Eren's father called me about it."

"What? Why would my father call you?" Eren huffed.

"I own the motel, idiot. Mikasa and I run it together."

"Oh. I didn't know."

"Hm."

"Where are you both going, then?" Mikasa asked.

Eren shrugged his shoulder. "That's why we were arguing. We don't have many choices at the moment."

"Why don't you stay with us? We have an extra room in our house." Mikasa suggested. Turning to Levi, she added, "They could earn their keep, of course, by working in the motel."

"Really?" Eren's face lit up. "Is that okay?" he asked, looking at Levi expectantly.

"We do need cleaning staff, but," Levi looked between the two. Although he was the shortest of the group, he held himself in such a way that made him seem extremely big and intimidating. "Those workers need to be diligent. I won't tolerate sloppy work."

"Of course! We could totally do that! Right, Armin?" Eren lilted. After receiving no response, he turned his head to face the boy. "Right?"

Armin stared down at his shoes, refusing to look up at anyone else. He slowly shook his head, locks of blond hair fluttering along with him.

"What?" Eren half-laughed in surprise. "What's wrong, Armin? We can stay with them, so everything's fine again. We have a place to stay."

Armin didn't respond, simply shaking his head from side to side once again.

Setting his bags on the ground, Eren firmly placed his hands on Armin's shoulders. "Hey, Armin. Talk to me. What's wrong?"

"I'm not staying there." Armin relied flatly.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Eren asked, "Why not?"

"I'm going home."

"...What? Why?"

"I just want to go home now."

"But... But there's no problem now, Armin." Eren said, feeling completely flabbergasted.

Armin bit his lip. He didn't like to argue with Eren, especially not when other people were present. He timidly raised his gaze, looking into Eren's eyes hesitantly. "You don't understand, Eren. My uncle... he might be addicted to gambling, and taking extreme risks just to gain money... but at least he understood the value of it. He still did what he could to take care of me with what he had. You're treating this like it's just a trip. I don't think you realized just what it means to run away from home completely. You've been relying on your father's money for comfort until now, and even your cellphone for entertainment. You... You never abandoned your personal life in the first place, but I had no other choice and now I see what a mistake that was. You're free to go where you want, Eren, but I... I'm going back home."

"What the hell?" Eren huffed in surprise. His eyebrows were sunken slightly and he wasn't sure if he was feeling angry or upset. "How do you even plan on getting home? Armin, don't. Come on. Things will get better from here on out."

Knowing that he was influenced easily by Eren's words, Armin continued to shake his head. He was determined that, for once in his life, he was going to do things his own way. Even if it meant that he had to separate from Eren- and that very thought scared him deeply to his core. Regardless of this, the small flame of determination burning in his heart continued to grow. "I'm going home, Eren. I'm sorry."

Armin took his leave, knowing that continuing the conversation any further would be much too hard for him. He was aware that Eren was likely to change his mind if he let him. Rather than allow that to happen, Armin had to act impulsively, and do what he thought best for himself.

"Armin, wait!" Eren called. He grabbed onto the other boys small wrist, and tugged him back. "You can't just go all of a sudden. Don't leave, please? I'm sorry, I'm sorry everything got messed up but you don't have to worry about money anymo-"

"Eren!" Armin bellowed in a voice so loud it surprised even himself. "Please... Please just let go of me." his voice quivered as he pleaded.

He wasn't sure if it was his words or the shaking of his voice that had convinced Eren, but at that moment, the boy had let him go. And so Armin walked off on his own, with not a single word uttered between the two. Not even so much as a goodbye. The only sound to be heard was the rustling of the wind around them, and the soft thumps of Armins shoes as he walked away.

* * *

><p>It had been half an hour since Armin had made a phone call on the nearest payphone he could find, and nearly an hour since he'd had his argument with Eren. He sat by himself, in the middle of the cafe where he and Eren had first gone upon arriving in the quaint town. The atmosphere suddenly seemed different than it had then. Of course, he was more familiar with it now, but somehow it felt colder to him. He quietly sipped on his tea as he waited for the one whom he had phoned.<p>

"Sorry, Armin, did you wait long?" It was Marco. He gave an apologetic smile as he took a seat across from him. "Your nose is looking much better than I thought it would."

"Thank you," Armin said meekly as he set down his teacup. "I'm sorry for calling you so suddenly. I sort of panicked at the last second."

"It's okay, I'm glad that you called me. It was no trouble at all, I was already on my way home from my classes so it was perfect timing, really."

"You're sure it's not a bother?"

"Of course it's not. Anyway, that's not why we're here. Do you want to talk about what happened?"

Armin wrapped his hands around his tea cup, and stared deeply into the beige-coloured beverage. "I feel sort of embarrassed now that I think back on the things I said." he murmured.

Previously, during his phone call with Marco, Armin had already given a basic description of his and Eren's journey so far. He explained first that they ran away together, and then went into telling about the various things they'd done since arriving in town. He had stopped himself right before explaining the argument they'd had, because he was running short on quarters to enter into the payphone. Instead, Marco proposed the idea that they meet somewhere, and Armin suggested the cafe as it was one of the only places he was familiar with.

"It's okay if you don't want to repeat everything but," Marco rested his cheek in his palm. "I won't judge you or anything. You can tell me anything you'd like."

The friendliness of the other boy made Armin feel slightly flustered. He wasn't used to sharing his feelings so openly, so he found it a bit difficult to begin. "Um, well, I guess it started after we left our room..." he rubbed his thumbs against the sides of his cup as he thought. "To put it simply, we fought because we had conflicting ideas about where we should go. He wanted to stay with the two that I told you about, but I wanted to go home instead."

"He didn't want you to?"

Armin shook his head. "He told me that I was abandoning our dream and I guess that I am, sort of, but realistically, it's not something we would have accomplished, anyway..."

"Your dream?" Marco tilted his head slightly. The coffee he had ordered when he had first come in arrived to the table and he thanked the waitress for it. "If you don't mind, could you tell me what the dream was exactly?" he asked, as he threw some sugar cubes into his cup and stirred it with his spoon.

"Ah, it's kind of..." Armin laughed quietly as he glanced out of the window. Just beyond the glass, cars drove by slowly. A few small houses were just across the street, looking rather aged and worn down, making it hard to imagine a time when they weren't there. Few children played outside in the dying grass, but seemed to take no notice of it. "When we were little, we read a lot of picture books together, and we both really liked one in particular called Tom The Piper's Son. I don't really know what attracted us to it, but we were so fond of it. And, actually- I have it with me, still."

Reaching into one of his bags, Armin ruffled his items around for a moment before pulling out a picture book. "It's silly to still love it after all these years, but it's sentimental, I guess. It was Eren's book first, but he gave it to me. So it's kind of the first gift he ever gave me, but I digress. The important part is the words themself," he opened the book and flipped to the page. He ran his finger along as he lilted in a sing-song voice.

_"Tom, he was a piper's son,_  
><em>He learned to play when he was young,<em>  
><em>And all the tune that he could play<em>  
><em>Was, 'Over the hills and far away,'<em>  
><em>Over the hills, and a great way off,<em>  
><em>The wind will blow my top-knot off.<em>  
><em>Now, Tom with his pipe made such a noise<em>  
><em>That he well pleased both the girls and boys,<em>  
><em>And they always stopped to hear him play<em>  
><em>'Over the hills and far away.'"<em>

Marco broke out in a wide grin. "That's so cute, Armin. You have such a sweet singing voice."

"Ah, I don't, I mean," Armin suddenly became red, having not realize that he'd been singing so enthusiastically. "A-Anyways, I couldn't really explain why, but the words have always meant a lot to the both of us... We always talked about what kind of places could be 'over the hills.' Meadows, the ocean, it could have been anything, we thought. We were so eager to find out, but in all reality, it's not even a real place. It's just been a metaphor this entire time. I guess I didn't realize that soon enough."

"There's something that's so sweet about that, though." Marco commented as he sipped his coffee. "Sharing a dream for so long, I mean. How long have you two been dating?"

"Yeah, I can understand why he's upset with me for wanting to abandon a dream we've had for this long." Armin replied, as he stared back into his tea. "Ah... It's hard to say. We've sort of... always been together, after all. We would do things like kiss each other when people weren't looking, because it made us feel really grown up. But the thing is, we never stopped doing it, and then one day, in the sixth grade, during a recess, Eren turned to me and asked me 'hey, are we boyfriends?' I didn't know what to say, I felt so embarrassed so I just nodded my head, and that's that."

"That's really cute. You've been together for so long." Marco smiled sweetly, as he crossed his arms on the table. "You two didn't break up over this fight or anything, did you?"

"No!" Armin quickly responded. He then sunk into his seat, feeling embarrassed by his outburst. "Well, I don't think so. I'm not sure what's going to happen with us. I'll never really be sure about where he is, or what he's doing..." his voice drifted off. "I'm sorry to talk about such depressing things. I didn't mean to call you out just to bore you like this."

Marco swallowed back a mouthful of coffee. "Not at all, Armin. I said you could talk to me about anything, right? I'm here to listen."

"I know, it's just," Armin sighed, and rested his forehead on his arm, staring down into his own lap. "I hate to burden you like this. I just don't know what to do. Should I go back to him and apologize, or should I actually go home? I really don't want to lose Eren, but... I don't know. It's conflicting."

"It'll be okay. Hey, you just need some time to think it over. I say we do something to cool down your mind to help you make a more clear decision." Marco suggested.

Armin lifted his head and looked at Marco with big eyes. "Like what?"

"Well, do you ride?" Marco asked.

Feeling his face burn into a bright red, Armin nervously began to speak, "Um... I mean... I'm flattered, but.."

Raising his eyebrows in surprise, Marco laughed loudly. "Oh, god, I'm sorry, I don't mean like that! I mean, my boyfriend Jean rides motorcycles. Have you ever been on one before?"

"O-Oh!" Armin stuttered, feeling embarrassed at his misunderstanding. "No, I haven't."

"Alright then, I'll give him a call. Trust me, you'll really like going for a ride. It'll calm you right down."

Fifteen moments later, Jean arrived at the cafe where Armin and Marco had patiently been waiting outside. He greeted Marco with a light peck on the cheek and then turned to face Armin with a smirk. "Hey, bruise-face. Heard you've been having a shit day."

"I suppose you could say that." Armin responded awkwardly.

"It's fine. A ride is just what you need. Here," Jean opened up a compartment of the bike and pulled out a helmet. "Put this on."

Taking the helmet from Jean, Armin briefly glanced between the two boys. Marco smiled politely and said, "Go ahead. It's fine. I can take your bags back to our apartment and then you can go relax there for awhile after the ride. Sound good?"

Armin nodded his head with a small smile. "Thank you, really, I'm so sorry for all of this trouble."

"It's okay. It's fine. Jean, be careful with him. No going too fast, it's his first time."

"I know, I know." Jean huffed. "Ready to ride, kid?"

Quickly, Armin slid the helmet onto his head. He got onto the motorcycle, as instructed by Jean, slipped his hands around his waist and held on tightly.

"Later, Marco." Jean flashed the peace sign as he started up the engine.

"Bye, you two. Remember to be careful with him. He's just a kid."

"I knooooow."

With that, the ride began. Feeling the motorcycle in motion was at first very startling to Armin. He shut his eyes so tightly so as to not let even the smallest beam of light in. He also tightened his grip around Jeans waist. He thought that he might have heard Jean make a comment about it, but his mind was too jumbled to understand the message clearly.

Moments passed, and occasionally they'd be brought to a slow and gentle stop. At those times, Armin would open his eyes and glance briefly at his surroundings. He was unfamiliar with the entire area, so each time he opened his eyes it was like seeing a new and different world.

Once the motorcycle started to move again, Armin would close his eyes again. After getting used to the feeling, he opened a single eye and peeked out at the world quickly passing him by. In a sense, it was soothing to him. Fields of green grass zoomed by in a flash, playgrounds of children, and comfortable looking homes. The scenery went by so quickly, but he didn't mind. It was a nice change of pace. That is, until, the grass transitioned into sand, and the vast land became water. Before he had realized it, he was staring at the ocean.

Jean pulled the motorcycle into a parking lot and parked it. He took off his helmet and glanced off into the distance. "Nice ride, huh? This view is pretty good, too. Thought it might make you feel good."

Mouth hung slightly open, Armin pulled his helmet off and didn't move his gaze from the vast waters for even a moment. "The.. ocean? Is this the ocean?"

"Yep. You've never been to one?" Jean asked with a raised eyebrow.

Armin shook his head, and breathlessly replied, "No."

The two remained quiet for the next few minutes. Jean sat on a curb on the edge of the parking lot but Armin remained seated on the motorcycle, blinking only a few times as he stared at the ocean.

"Hey, you wanna go closer? There are benches up there to sit on an' stuff." Jean suggested.

Armin shook his head. Slowly, he moved his head downward and stared at the ground instead. There was an ill feeling deep inside of him that grew stronger the longer he heard the ocean waves crashing against the shore. Not the peace and serenity that he'd been expecting to feel upon his first encounter with the ocean.

He realized the reason quickly, and the feeling hit him very hard. It was because Eren was not with him. Without Eren there, Armin felt like his dream of seeing the ocean was meaningless. He was unable to appreciate it's beauty, because he wasn't sharing the moment with the right person.

Burning hot tears rapidly began to pour from Armin's eyes before he could even think about stopping them. He sniffled and sobbed quietly. Jean took immediate notice of it and stood from the curb, looking completely flabbergasted.

"H-Hey, kid. What's wrong?" Jean stuttered in confusion.

Armin simply shook his head in response.

"E...Eren..." he whimpered. "I... I don't want to see the world without him..."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Hey! I hope you guys are liking the story so far. What do you think? Anyway, Tom the Piper's Son is a real nursery rhyme and it has a cute beat too. I recommend you all listen to it at some point when you get the time.


	6. Chapter 6

Had it already been a day since Armin left him? Surely it must have been _at least _the length of a school day. Eren found himself wondering this over and over, but it wasn't the case at all. Rather, it had only been an hour and a half roughly since, and time felt like it slowed down with each passing moment.

After Armin had walked away from him, Eren was shown the way to the house where siblings Levi and Mikasa lived. It was only a few doors down from the motel itself, and although it was a decent sized house, it was still a down-grade for Eren, who until just days ago had been living in a rather spacious mansion.

He was shown to the guest room by Mikasa, where he laid out all of his bags and unpacked a few important items such as his phone, charger, and hair brush. He plugged his phone into the nearest outlet and then quickly brushed his hair that had somehow managed to become a mess during his argument with Armin.

After he finally emerged from his room, he was shortly approached by Levi, who handed him a broom, duster, and bucket of various cleaning supplies. He gave Eren brief and straight-forward orders to clean a few of the unused rooms in the motel before any guests arrived. Thinking it would be a simple and easy task, Eren accepted it and quickly made his way down to the motel where he got started on the first room.

The work was a lot more strenuous than Eren had ever imagined it to be. He had very few memories of actually cleaning his own room. On most occasions, he had left the work to the housemaid that his parents hired to do the cleaning every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday night. He never thought that he had left much of a mess so he never felt bad about it, but the more he considered the idea, the more he began to realize that he wasn't very skilled at keeping things tidy without assistance.

After struggling with cleaning the first room for a little over half an hour, Levi stopped by to see how things were going. His reaction was anything but positive, and he was extremely critical of the job Eren did (who thought he had done pretty decently). He was ordered to re-do the entire room from the beginning, but to do a more intricate job the second time around.

Unable to even spot his own mistakes, Eren blindly went about cleaning the room a second time. It took him roughly another half hour, but performing the task a second time helped him to realize some of the things he had done wrong at first.

After doing a bit of re-organizing, Levi approved the room and told Eren to move along to the next. He was much quicker the second time around and it took him only half an hour to complete the entire room. He was done his work for the day after that, and Levi told him he could do whatever he wanted until seven in the evening when dinner would be served.

He wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He quickly realized that without Armin, he didn't know anybody around him. He had no friends, and nothing in particular that he felt like doing on his own.

With thoughts of Armin still strong in his mind, Eren finally settled on the idea of taking a short walk to clear his mind. He unplugged his cell phone, briefly catching a glimpse of his wallpaper which had been set to the last selfie he and Armin had taken together, and then shoved it into his pocket.

Walking against the brisk wind, Eren trudged down the street. The cold breeze encompassed his entire body, leaving it feeling heavy and stiff. By the time he reached the convenience store at the corner, he had already felt as if he'd been walking for some time.

When he reached the front of the convenience store, he briefly stopped to gaze at the bulletin board. His mind instantly recalled the first, and only, time he'd been there with Armin. It hadn't been anymore than a few days, but it already felt like a faint memory lingering in the very back of his mind. Though when he lifted his hand upward and faintly stroked his eyepatch, he realized that his injury was still fresh, unhealed, and would take much time to get better. For an instant, he thought of Armin's injuries too, and if he were in any pain. The thought quickly left his mind.

To say the least, Eren was irritated. Armin had doubted him from the beginning, he never believed in his ideas or supported his suggestions. To top things off, he'd walked out on him when times get their toughest. He quickly shook the thoughts out of his mind. It was over and done with, and now Armin was gone back home, leaving Eren as a lone runaway. He'd survive, though. Somehow, he was sure of it.

He turned away from the bulliten board, and continued on. After a moment or so of walking, he noticed a large figure in the distance, making it's way in his direction. He didn't pay much attention to the person until suddenly, they began to run toward him. Eren immediately froze up, and took a step back.

"Eren!" The gruff voice howled. He instantly recognized it as the voice of his close friend, Reiner Braun.

Reiner caught up to Eren quickly. He placed his hands on his knees and took a few deep breaths before standing upright. "Man, I've been looking everywhere for you."

He was an extremely hefty and well-built boy, his large frame often causing people to mistake him for a much older man. He had short, neatly cropped tufts of blond hair that fell just above his ear and above the nape of his neck. His thin eyebrows and shapely nose gave him a mature and firm appearance, but in all reality, he was just a boy of sixteen.

"Huh?" Eren, still in shock, curled his lips into a nervous, though amused, smile. "What're you doing here? Why are you trying to find me?"

Reiner crossed his arms, and stared down at the shorter boy. "You've been ignoring my calls. I thought something bad might have happened."

"What're you talking about?" Eren quickly retorted. "I haven't been away from my phone since I got here, and besides, I haven't received a call or text since the other day."

"That's bullcrap, I've texted you a million times." Reiner said, as he pulled his own phone out of his pocket. Quickly typing in his passcode, and going to his messages, he held the phone infront of Eren's face. "See?"

* * *

><p><strong>TO:<strong> EREN

How gross is ur eye looking now send me a pic lmao  
>10:37PM<p>

Damn dude it's not like I asked for a dick pic or anything  
>12:06AM<p>

Did u die or something lol  
>9:00AM<p>

oky srsly did u die?  
>10:37AM<p>

wtf dude this isn't funny anymore  
>2:59PM<p>

If u don't reply by midnight then I will go find u myself  
>6:00PM<p>

oky then  
>1:03AM<p>

* * *

><p>"What the hell?" Eren breathed quietly, as he shoved the phone back into Reiner's hand. He turned his own phone on, and quickly searched through his inbox. "I didn't receive a single one of these."<p>

Reiner's eyes widened slightly, and he pointed his finger forward at Eren's phone. "What the hell? No wonder it's not working. When did you get that crack?" he asked.

"Huh?" Eren gazed at his phone's screen. "Oh. Some jackass bumped into me at the aquarium and I dropped it. I was able to receive a phone after that, though, so it should still be working."

Cupping his chin in thought, Reiner hummed quietly. "Maybe you just have no service in this town?"

"Maybe it's _your _phone." Eren rolled his eyes. "Since when are you such a mom, anyway?"

"Hey now." Reiner cut in. "I'm just concerned for a friend here. More importantly, when did you and Armin split?"

Eren was caught off guard by the sudden question. He attempted to look casually indifferent as he shrugged his shoulder. "This morning. He suddenly wanted to go home, but I didn't want to. So we parted."

Furrowing his eyebrows, Reiner narrowed his eyes and thought a second before stating, "But he didn't go home. I just saw him down by the ocean with some guy."

It was as if Eren's entire body had frozen on the spot. He stared blankly at Reiner for a moment, and when he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out.

"I wasn't sure if it was really him at first. I was about to call out to him when he started sobbing all of a sudden. The guy tried talking to him for a few minutes before he got a clear response but I'm one-hundred percent sure it was Armin." Reiner explained. "So I knew you couldn't be that far away from him, and here you are."

"Is he..." Eren gulped. "Is he still there?"

Reiner shrugged his shoulders, and looked over his shoulder. "He was when I left, anyway. I don't know if he still is."

Feeling as if he suddenly had a large weight sinking down on his chest, Eren took a few steps forward. "Take me there!" he exclaimed, catching Reiner off guard.

"Hey, man, listen, I don't think he's gonna be-" Reiner began, but was shortly cut off.

"Take me there, Reiner!"

The two exchanged a long, stern look. The first to break the gaze was Reiner, who was well acquainted with Eren's stubborn nature. He sighed loudly. "I don't even know what's going on but fine. We should hurry, though."

It was too late by the time they had arrived. There was no sign of Armin, or even the motorcycle that Reiner had apparently seen him on. There was no definite proof that the boy had even been Armin, but for some reason, having missed an opportunity to see him made Eren feel hollow on the inside.

Eren's body fell limp, slowly sinking into the sand beneath his feet. He ran his limp hand across the small grains of sand, few itty particles clung to his palm as he pulled it upwards to gaze at it.

"I'm an idiot." Eren murmured.

Reiner leaned over, crossing his arms over his knees as his rump hovered over the ground. "What?"

"I said I'm an idiot." Eren said, in a firmer tone. "He told me he was going home. I should have seen him to the train station, now I have no clue where he's at." Tightening his hand into a fist, he gave the ground a punch of frustration. "Shit!"

"Why did you two split up in the first place?"

"I told you already." Eren growled quietly under his breath. "He wanted to go home, but I didn't."

"That's all?" Reiner asked, half-amused. "You guys should have just talked it out, then."

"We did! But he..." Eren cut himself off, as he recalled the argument he and Armin had had earlier. Who started it? What triggered the fight? Had he even been correct to say what he had said to Armin? Thinking things over again, he realized that Armin had remained calm and collected the entire time. Until the end at least, after Eren had pestered him to his breaking point. "He... I don't know. We just fought. We were both too stubborn to see the other person's side, I guess. I don't know. Jeez, Reiner."

"Jeez _yourself_, kid." Reiner replied. "It's not my fault you're in this mess, but I can tell you one thing. You could both be on opposite sides of town right now, with no way to contact each other. So unless he comes to where you are, you're by yourself."

Eren thought a moment, before retorting. "No... He can't come to me. He doesn't know where I am either. He didn't stay long enough to see. And..." he thought another second. "He won't even be able to call me if my phone's not working, and I won't be able to call him since he doesn't have a cellphone. Christ. I really hope you were just seeing things Reiner."

"I'm positive it was Armin. I can recognize his voice well enough to be sure." Reiner commented. He quickly added, "Besides, nobody else has had a hair cut like his since the nineties."

"Reiner.." Eren murmured. He sighed and then crossed his legs, while he gripped onto his ankles with his hands. "What did the other guy look like, anyway? Did you see him?"

"Not really. Light brown hair, on the taller side, pretty thin guy. He didn't look like he was doing anything bad though. He was comforting Armin when I saw them. Maybe he's a friend of his or something. It was my first time seeing him, though."

"Shit. I have no idea who it could be." Eren grumbled. "What the hell am I supposed to do? I'm still kind of mad at him, sure, but I don't like not knowing where he is. If he'd gone home, at least I would have known."

Reiner remained silent for the next few minutes. He left Eren to his own thoughts, his deep green eyes fading out of focus as he pondered what would become of his relationship with Armin.

"Hey buddy," Reiner eventually spoke up. "Listen. Why don't I walk you back to where you're staying? Sitting here isn't gonna help your case. At the least, you should go some better place to think things over."

Eren shook his head. "Not yet. I need to soak this in."

"What?"

"The surroundings, I mean. The feelings surrounding us, the fresh smell in the air, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. Armin experienced all of this already, didn't he? And with someone else, too. I guess I'm happy he got to see it though." Eren murmured, more so to himself than anyone else. He stared blankly at the seemingly infinite line where the blue sky met with the deep clear ocean waters.

_I wonder where he is right now, and what he's thinking about? Is he still angry at me too? Or, has he already moved on?_

* * *

><p>The next few hours passed by Eren much faster than the morning had. Before he realized it, time had progressed quickly, and day was replaced by dawn. He awoke in the early hours, as the gentle sunlight trickling in through his window beckoned him to consciousness.<p>

Beside him, Reiner slept soundlessly on the opposite side of the bed. Due to shortage of rooms, the two were forced to room together. Eren, being much smaller than Reiner, didn't take up much room on the bed, though he slept much more restlessly and stirred around quite a bit while he slept.

Reiner resembled a rock as he slept. His big build caused a large dent in the bed, and he didn't make a single move until he awoke the next morning. It was almost hard to tell if the man was still alive at times, due to his quiet and gentle breaths.

Another hour passed, and Eren gave up on trying to force himself back to sleep. He instead rolled out of the bed and walked to the window, where he quickly threw the curtains open. The sudden bright light caused him to squint, but he quickly adjusted. He could hear Reiner shifting around in the bed, and when he turned to face, saw that he was finally awake.

"Good morning." Eren said.

"Mornin'." Reiner grumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Eight." Eren replied, as he glanced at the clock on the night stand.

"Damn." Reiner mumbled, as he stretched his arms out on both sides. He threw the blankets off of his body and stood from the bed. "I didn't mean to intrude on you by staying here all night. I'll take the next bus I can."

"It's fine."

"Anyway, have you decided what you're going to do?" Reiner asked, as he glanced at Eren from across the room. Despite having just woken up, he was already diving deep into conversation without hesitation.

Eren stared at the floor just infront of his feet. "I've already decided. I'm going to find Armin." he stated with certainty.

"Do you need any help?" Reiner asked. "If possible, I'd like to know that he's safe with you before I leave."

"I have a plan, Reiner." Eren huffed. "Trust me. I have this, and I really don't need to baby me the whole time."

Scratching the back of his head silently, Reiner took a seat on the edge of the bed. He made direct eye contact with Eren as he began to speak. "Listen, Eren. I'm not trying to baby you, but I don't think you really realize what's going on here. I want to at least hear about what you plan to do."

Eren sighed loudly. He walked forward and sat on the bed beside Reiner. Crossing his legs, he gave the other boy a very serious, stern look. "Fine, I'll tell you. But I'll warn you now that this plan is gonna take a few days at the least."

Reiner raised an eyebrow. "Just tell me."

In short and brief detail, Eren described his plan of action. As it was not a dangerous plan, and was rather well thought out considering Eren had thought of it, Reiner was quick to agree to helping out, though he wasn't certain if he could stay any longer then one more night. Eren assured him that it was just fine, though, and that he could only carry his plan out on his own, anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

After driving around for what felt like quite some time, Jean pulled his motorcycle into the parking lot of the apartment complex he and Marco lived at.

Pulling his helmet off, Jean ruffled his hair until he assumed it looked presentable. "Hey, what was with that back there? You okay?"

Armin removed his own helmet as he slowly nodded his head. "I'm sorry. I don't know what got into me. I'm fine now, though." he said, which was at least half of the truth. He did know what was bothering him, but he felt as if it were easier if he didn't bother to explain.

They didn't exchange anymore words after that point. Silently, Jean headed in the direction of his apartment room, and Armin trailed him with small steps.

Upon entering the apartment, Armin immediately recognized his bags set on the edge of the couch located in the lounging section of the room. The other half of the room, separated by a thin and short wall, appeared to be the kitchen. With a small stove, refrigerator, and high cupboards, it was a modest but tidy room.

"It's no palace, but it's just the two of us living here anyway. Pretty neat for two guys, huh?" Jean commented, triggering Marco's entrance, who sauntered in through the bedroom door.

"No thanks to you." Marco laughed. "I do all of the hard work- Oh! Armin, sweetie, you look so pale. Are you alright? Did Jean say something mean to you?"

Jean rolled his eyes, and gave Armin no time to respond. "He just got upset about the crap with his boyfriend."

Armin quietly nodded his head to the comment as he continue to scan the room slowly with his eyes. He of course trusted both Jean and Marco, despite having only met them once. Marco especially had left a big impression on Armin, and he felt as if he could depend on him for guidance and support.

Naturally, Armin didn't want to become a burden to either one of the boys. Mentally, he had already begun to form a plan for the next step he would take. It wasn't anything elaborate, of course. He was only planning to use either Marco or Jean's phone to call Eren, he had his number memorized, and then he would try to talk things out with him. He felt as if he had acted immaturely and impulsively during their argument and he wanted to apologize for it. He couldn't deny that he still wanted to return home, and he hoped secretly that he could convince Eren of that as well. The rest of his plan relied solely on what Eren's response would be.

"Anyway. Armin, I put all of your stuff on the couch. We don't really have a big apartment, and there's just the one bedroom so I hope that the couch will be fine." Marco explained.

"Thank you." Armin murmured mindlessly as he returned his gaze to the much taller boy. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble to bring my things here."

"Not at all," Marco smiled meekly. "Now, go take a seat and I'll make tea for everyone."

Jean let out a satisfied sounding whistle as he kicked his shoes off. Armin took the gesture as a sign that he should remove his shoes as well, and quickly followed suit.

After plopping himself onto the couch sloppily, Jean gave a few light pats to the cushion beside him. Taking it as a clear sign that he should sit beside him, Armin made his way over to the couch. He felt a little uneasy being in a new setting with people he barely knew, but did his best to keep a calm composure.

"So, you're... fourteen, right?" Jean asked, in an attempt to make small talk.

Armin smiled meekly as he shook his head. "Fifteen." he answered, but quickly added, "I'll be sixteen soon."

"Oh, well, you look fourteen." Jean commented, casually grabbing the television remote and turning it on.

"Um... I'm not sure how to take that remark, but.." Armin muttered awkwardly.

"Jean, don't be mean!" Marco's voice boomed from the kitchen. He rested his hand on the counter, placing his other hand on his hip, an intolerant expression on his face. "He's already having a bad day."

Jean glanced passed the television and shot a glare of confusion in Marco's direction. "Huh? Since when is saying someone looks younger a bad thing?"

"When you're almost sixteen and want people to treat you like an adult, of course." Marco laughed under his breath while rolling his eyes.

"Huh." Jean huffed as he sunk back into his seat. He glanced over at Armin, mumbled a quick, "My bad" and then returned his attention to the television screen, where a vibrant and vivacious cartoon was playing.

A moment later an ear-shattering whistle began to emit from the kettle, signifying that the water inside had finished boiling. Marco grabbed the handle and began to pour the hot water into three separate mugs. The designs on which were all rather questionable- the first looked rather Christmas-esque with it's snowflake design, the second was an orange cup with black spiders drawn around the rim, and the third was a simple white cup with bold black letters spelling out 'EAT ASS.'

Feeling slightly embarrassed by the vulgar writing on the cup, Armin tried not to look at it as he focused his attention on the cartoon playing on the television.

"Armin, how do you take your tea?" Marco asked, as he opened the small refrigerator and pulled out a jug of milk.

"U..Uh.." Armin stuttered, momentarily forgetting his tea preferences. "Milk and just a bit of sugar is fine."

Marco quickly fixed all three teas up and then walked them over to the couch. He handed off the child-friendly Christmas themed mug to Armin, and the less than appropriate 'EAT ASS' mug to Jean. He kept the Halloween mug to himself.

"Believe it or not, that's one of our nicer cups." Marco commented, shifting his gaze between Armin and Jean's mug. "Jean thinks being gross is funny, don't mind him."

"I think it's funny in like, an ironic way." Jean explained, his cheeks burning slightly with embarrassment.

Armin laughed along in an attempt to be polite, but only ended up feeling more awkward afterwards.

Marco shrugged his shoulders, his smile warm and inviting as he chimed, "Well, it's not hurting anybody so it's fine. Anyway, I hope the tea is to your liking."

"I'm so sorry that you have to go through all this trouble." Armin replied with a timid smile. "Honestly, I never meant to become such a bother on the two of you. I really should have called home instead, but.."

"But you didn't." Jean cut him off. "So stop apologizing already. We already told you that it's fine by us."

"I know that, but..."

"Enough already." Jean concluded as he pushed a hand forward and ruffled Armin's hair with it. "Instead of constantly apologizing to people, just learn to thank them. It makes both sides feel better- and there's nothing to be sorry about in the first place."

Struck with shock at Jean's words, Armin stared blankly at him with his mouth slightly ajar as he processed what had just been said to him. It made something deep within him burst, a feeling of surprise and realization at the bad habit he didn't realize he had.

Armin slowly brought his mug toward his lips. He held it firmly with both hands, coddling it briefly before he finally took a sip of the beverage. The taste itself was incredibly bland, but it wasn't because of the way it was prepared. Armin recognized the blend as the same one he drank at home, a cheap brand.

For a brief moment, the aroma of tea wafted into his consciousness, bringing him back to his home. Sitting by himself at the couch, he would coddle his cup in the same way, brush his lips against the rim softly as he waited for it to cool down enough for him to drink. Staring at the beverage's soft beige colouring, he often found himself wondering when his uncle would return home.

"Thank you," Armin finally uttered as he snapped back to reality. His smile was gracious, and genuine. "I drank the same kind of tea back home."

"So it's fine then? What a relief." Marco smiled in response. "I'm glad."

* * *

><p>After a few hours of leisure lounging on the couch and a lengthy discussion about various things, Armin finally built up the courage to ask if he could borrow Marco's phone. Luckily, he was happily granted permission by the older boy, and was given his phone to use for as long as he'd like.<p>

Armin felt his fingers twitching nervously as he began to dial Eren's number, which he had memorized since the boy first got a cell phone. Holding the phone to his ear, the ringing echoed through his mind, making his body feel cold and anxious.

He had expected that Eren would answer him immediately. Out of worry, or maybe he'd also wanted to apologize. He knew they hadn't seen each other for nearly an entire day since their fight, and he had naturally assumed that Eren would be eager to hear his voice, the same way he was.

But that wasn't the case, it seemed. He received no answer at all. Instead, he was quickly redirected to Eren's voicemail.

"Yoooo, it's Eren Jaeger and I'm too busy to take your call. Leave me a messa-"

Armin hung up before listening to the rest of the message.

Immediately, he tried to call again. Maybe Eren had misplaced his phone and had been fumbling around to find it. Maybe he was in the shower and was just getting out to answer it. There could have been many reasons as to why he didn't answer his phone.

"Yoooo, it's Eren Jaeger and I'm too busy to take your ca-"

Armin hung the phone up again. He sighed, and gave it one more try.

"Yoooo, it's Eren Jaeger and I'm too busy to take your call. Leave me a message and maybe I'll call ya back later." BEEP.

He let the message play fully out and took a deep breath before speaking.

"Eren...? Maybe you're busy right now. I'm sorry to bother you. Um... Well," his voice cracked nervously. "I wanted to talk about everything that happened earlier... I hope you're doing okay. If you want to talk to me then I'm borrowing Marco's phone, the one we met at the aquarium. You don't have to... but um... Again, I'm sorry to bother yo-" his voice was cut off by the long, loud beep signifying that his time to leave a message was over.

Slowly moving the phone from his ear and ending the call, Armin handed the phone back to Marco. "Thank you for letting me use it." he smiled meekly.

"He didn't answer, huh?" Marco's eyebrows slumped downwards in concern. "I'm sure he just has his hands full at the moment. He'd answer you right away otherwise."

Armin nodded his head, doing his best to believe in Marco's word. "I just hope that he's okay."

"He's fine, and he'll call back when he can. I'll wake you up right away if he calls during the night, alright?"

"Thank you, Marco."

"Now," Marco stood from the couch and brushed off his jeans. He felt a slightly numbness in his thighs from sitting for so long and patting them quietly. "It's gotten pretty late, so you ought to get some sleep after the day you've had."

Grabbing a rolled up blanket from the end of the couch, Marco unwrapped it and draped it over Armin's shoulders. "If you feel upset or can't quite sleep, then feel free to wake me or Jean up and we'll keep you company."

His body unconsciously moving on it's own, Armin lifted his arms up and wrapped them around Marco's neck. Cheek-to-cheek, Armin could feel his own face burning up with embarrassment, as he hadn't fully processed what or why he'd suddenly embraced the other boy. Whether it was because he missed Eren so much, or because he felt so grateful to Marco in that moment- he was unsure. Perhaps both were contributing factors. Despite whatever deep reasoning he had for it, he shocked even himself with his impulsive movement.

Unexpectedly, Marco wrapped his arm around Armin's small back and gave him a firm, warm squeeze in response. The embrace felt nostalgic somehow- like the same hug that an older brother would give, despite Armin not having any siblings of his own. He concluded that Marco just had a very trusting and inviting vibe.

"Good night, Armin." Marco said as he pulled away from the hug.

Armin lowered his arms, and curled up in the blanket he'd been given. "Good night, Marco."

* * *

><p>Armin was awoken suddenly the next morning by a heavy pounding beneath where he was laying. When he opened his sleepy eyes, the first sight he saw was of a frumpy looking Jean with messy bed hair.<p>

"Wh..Wha...?" Armin managed to mumble.

"Time for breakfast." Jean announced. "You're a surprisingly heavy sleeper, by the way."

Armin propped himself up with his elbows and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Through his cloudy vision, he watched as Jean walked back to the kitchen portion of the room and grabbed a pan from the stove top. He began dishing some kind of food off onto plates, but it was hard to tell what it was exactly.

It took a moment for Armin to fully sit up and get himself awake. After yawning into his hand, he inhaled a large breath of air and suddenly the inviting aroma of breakfast reached his nose. Eggs, toast and... something cheese-y?

A moment later Jean entered the room and handed a plate to Armin. Looking at it closer, he could see that breakfast was a curious mix of toasted bread, scrambled eggs, and a heaping portion of macaroni and cheese.

Shortly after, Marco brought over three mugs of tea, and set them down before taking a seat beside Armin. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, shoving some of his own food into his mouth.

Armin, with a spoonful of macaroni in his mouth quickly nodded his head. He swallowed back before responding, "I'm still a bit sleepy, I guess, but it was nice."

"That's good." Marco hummed.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Although Armin didn't feel very hungry, he still forced himself to down his entire plate, leaving only a bit of crust from his toast behind. He finished off his tea fairly easily and then took a deep breath. He hadn't realized it, but somewhere along the way, he felt as if he had gained his energy back.

After eating, Marco suggested that showering might help Armin feel a bit better as well, so he decided to give it a try. The water felt incredibly refreshing against his skin, and he stood in the shower for a long time, reflecting on past events.

Naturally, Eren was the strongest force in his thoughts. He hadn't returned his call, and it was unusual for Eren to be away from his phone for any longer than an hour at a time. It made Armin incredibly worried to think about- what if he got into a fight and it was more than he could handle? Worse yet, what if he were seriously injured lying in the gutter somewhere... or even, dead.

Armin quickly shook his head, trying to erase all negative thoughts from his head. It couldn't have been possible. Eren managed to make his way through everything somehow. It's one of the things Armin admired about him so much, after all.

That's right. Eren had to be fine. He was probably just still angry- and rightfully so.

Having made up his mind, Armin got out of the shower and put on a fresh set of clothing. He dried his hair with his towel and then brushed through it with his fingertips before using a real hairbrush to finish off the job.

The first person he encountered after leaving the bathroom was Jean, who was pacing around in the living room area.

"Hey kid," he greeted, not looking up from the ground. "I've got to go to the store later. You wanna come?"

Taken aback by the sudden invitation, Armin slowly nodded his head. "S...Sure, yeah."

"Cool. Be ready soon, then."

* * *

><p>It was only a little over an hour later when Jean re-entered the room, telling Armin it was time to go. Although still unsure as to why he'd asked for his company, Armin slipped on his shoes and followed just a few steps behind him.<p>

Jean was like an endless record on loop as they walked to the store. He spoke a lot, and about silly things. He'd often repeat things he said at the beginning of the conversation, and without realizing it, continue to say essentially what he'd said only moments ago. Though Armin didn't particularly mind listening to him ramble on about his college adventures, and so on.

Without warning, Jean suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned his head back to look at Armin. "Hey, what's your last name?"

Armin stopped walking and stared up at Jean with a raised eyebrow. "Arlert, why?"

"Huh. That's why." Jean answered, as he pointed his finger forward.

Following the direction in which his finger pointed, Armin noticed a curiously placed sign in the front window of the store. In bold letters at the top, the name "ARMIN ARLERT" was clearly printed.

Taking a few steps forward, Armin could see that more writing followed his name. Beginning to read the letter, he began to realize who had left it there.

_'My phone is broken, so I'm sorry if you tried to call me and thought I was ignoring you. I know you said you were going home, but Reiner said he saw you at 'that place,' but when I went there, you were already gone. Maybe you went home after- but I doubt that because he saw you with some guy on a motorcycle. I don't know who he is- or if you'll even see this, but I want to see you and talk about everything. I don't know where you are, and you probably don't know where I am, but I figured you'd probably come here at some point._

_Anyway, I want to see you, and I don't know if you want to see me but if you do then we can meet. I'll be waiting for you for three different days. I'll be at that place 'over the hills and far away' from 9am-3pm until Friday. If you don't show up then, I'll take the hint that you don't want to see me (or that you just didn't see this, I guess...) I would put the address I'm staying at, but as this is public, I don't think it would be a good idea. _

_I hope I can see you soon,_  
><em>Eren.<em>

_P.S. I know you must be angry at me, but please consider meeting with me anyway. I'm worried about you.'_

After finishing the letter through once, Armin quickly scanned it again and then once more after that.

"From your boyfriend, huh?" Jean asked, startling Armin, who had been so absorbed in the letter that he had forgotten he was there. "He's making things so complicated, why doesn't he just put the address of where he's staying?"

Armin quickly grabbed onto the letter and pulled it down so that he could hold it. "Well, people might make fun of him for writing this and then egg the house he's staying at or something."

Jean laughed quietly. "True. I'd probably do that."

"What time is it now?" Armin furrowed his eyebrows at the letter. "I think that I've already missed the first day..."

Looking at the time displayed on his phone screen, Jean announced, "It's four."

"Just by an hour..." Armin sighed. "I guess I'll try to meet with him tomorrow, then."

"You're actually going to go?"

"Well, yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I?"

Jean shrugged his shoulder. "He was kind of an ass, wasn't he?"

Continuing to stare down at the note in his hands, Armin shook his head. "No... I have to go because I'm the one who needs to apologize."

* * *

><p>It was around nine when Armin woke up the next morning. He had intended to wake up sooner, but since he'd been up so late the night before thinking about what he wanted to say to Eren, he ended up waking up much later than planned.<p>

He quickly scrambled to get himself ready. Jean was gone to class for the day, and Marco appeared to still be asleep. Armin made sure to leave a small note behind explaining where he was going and when he planned to be back.

The distance from the apartment to the ocean was a bit too long to walk, so Armin concluded that taking the bus would be the best option, especially considering how he'd overslept so much. Luckily, he had just enough change for a ride, and was glad that he wouldn't have to trouble Marco to borrow any.

Much to Armin's surprise, the bus was surprisingly full. He took a seat at the front, by a lean, brunette person with a friendly smile. He smiled briefly at them, to be polite, but did not for even a second consider the reaction it would set off.

"Where are you headed to, stranger?" they grinned widely from ear-to-ear, revealing a set of surprisingly crooked and white teeth.

"Oh, um," Armin smiled awkwardly while twiddling his thumbs nervously. "The ocean. How about you?"

"How lovely! I heard it's supposed to rain this afternoon, though. I hope that that doesn't put a damper on your plans." The stranger responded with too much enthusiasm, completely ignoring his question.

Armin half-smiled as he tucked his hair behind his ear. "Y...Yeah. I hope so too."

The conversation had ended there, but the silence that followed it was just as awkward. It felt like the air was growing thinner, in such a small space, with so many strangers. Regardless of this, Armin took long, deep breaths and held on to them, exhaled as he counted to 8 in his mind, then repeated. A simple, but effective method he used when feeling his anxiety on the rise.

Ten minutes into the bus ride, he could feel his body finally relaxing as a result of his breathing exercises. Briefly he closed his eyes, imagining the soothing waves of the ocean in front of his eyes, the reflection they would create against Eren's bright eyes as he turned to see Armin, and the warmth of his embrace overpowering the coldness of the ocean airs.

It was at that point that his vision was quickly cut off by the abrupt and ear-shattering bang of the bus swerving, and colliding with an oncoming car. The buzz of noise surrounding was sudden, and overwhelming. The screams of people in the streets, the honking of cars, the skidding of tires avoiding the collision, the gasps of the passengers on the bus, and the driver himself cursing underneath his breath as he quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and left the bus in a hurry.

The sudden movement of the bus had caused Armin's seating neighbour to jerk into him suddenly. They laughed quietly, the only sound of enjoyment around, and smiled. "Sorry about that. That caught me by surprise." they mumbled, with a snicker.

People from the back of the bus had started to swarm towards the front in an attempt to catch a glance at what was happening.

Feeling his breaths getting shorter and more restrained, Armin gripped on his chest and began heaving quietly.

"Hey, are you okay?" his seating partner questioned quietly, so as not to attract any unnecessary attention.

Armin nodded his head slowly, although he wasn't quite sure of his own condition. He had never had a panic attack before, but for some reason, he felt certain that he'd been on the brink of one for the entire day. The added trouble of a bus crash certainly wasn't helping his case.

Before he could answer in words, the bus driver quickly returned to the bus and ushered everybody back to their seats.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but it seems that we'll be stuck here for some time." he announced, his face looked as if it had been drained of it's colour. He wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and then sat back in his seat. "Please, everybody, remain seated until we've gained permission to move again."

As expected, the news seemed to be anything but good, which did little to ease Armin's feelings of panic.

"Hey. Lets switch seats so that you can breathe out the window." The brunette stranger insisted.

With little energy to argue, Armin agree'd and swapped seats. He lifted his face and propped his chin on the bottom of the window, taking in a deep breath, holding it, exhaling it while counting to eight, and repeated.

"So, I never caught your name?" the brunette smiled quietly as Armin settled into his seat finally.

Armin stared for a moment before meekly answering, "It's Armin. What's yours?"

"Ohh, how unique." the brunette exclaimed. "My name is Hanji Zoe. It looks like we'll be stuck here for some time, so we might as well talk a little bit, hm?"

Nodding his head slowly, a sudden thought occurred to Armin. "N...No, wait. What time is it, do you know?"

Rolling up their sleeve, Hanji glanced at their watch briefly before answering, "It's quarter to one now."

"What?" Armin whimpered in shock. "How long do you think we'll be here for?"

"It depends on the damage, really." Hanji began to explain. "Lets say it's just a small bump and nobody is injured, it'll probably still take around an hour to get moving. But if there's a lot of damage, or worse yet, major injury or death, then we could be stuck here for a few hours."

"Oh God, I hope that it's not anything nearly that bad." Armin murmured in horror.

_Of course I don't want anybody to be hurt or dead, and I especially don't want Eren to miss meeting me for the second day in a row. He must think this is my way of rejecting him..._

"Well, I'm sure it's fine. Ah! The police are here!" Hanji announced louder than expected, attracting the attention of many passengers who stared out the window in response.

Following the sets of police cars was an ambulance and fire truck. A policeman who exited his car hurried over and knocked on the bus door. He firmly ordered the driver to come outside for a moment, and the nervous driver immediately listened to the command.

It was hard to distinguish their exact words, but Armin could pick up a little bit on what they were saying.

"...move... bus... pedestrian...boy...car...not responding...dead..."

Armin gulped quietly. "D...Did you hear that...?" he whispered to Hanji. "They said dead... Do you think someone died..?"

"Not yet, we can't be sure." Hanji attempted to re-assure him. "After all, the men are just getting out of the ambulance now, see? They haven't confirmed any deaths or injuries yet."

"Right, right." Armin nodded his head along to convince himself. " They mentioned a boy... a pedestrian... I hope he's not hurt... Well, I mean...I hope that nobody is hurt." he continued to mumble as he nervously bit his thumb.

"You look pale." Hanji commented, elbows propped on their knees as they rested their chin in their hands.

"I'm just a bit worried, I guess... This doesn't look very good." Armin answered quietly.

"Are you worried that you won't make it to the ocean today? There's always tomorrow." Hanji attempted to encourage him.

Armin took a few deep breaths and then shrugged his shoulders. "My boyfriend is waiting for me... So I don't want him to wait too long. Also... This pedestrian boy thing is making me feel a little bit uneasy..."

"Oh. You're worried it might be him?" Hanji asked. "Well, I'm sure it isn't... I mean, we don't even know the details yet. Of course it could be- but hell, don't assume anything yet!"

Although hesitant to do so, Armin listened to Hanji's advice and did his best not to worry. Regardless of what he tried to think about, thoughts of Eren would quickly come flooding back into his mind. It just couldn't be helped.

What if Eren, frustrated with Armin's lack of absence, went storming down the streets on his way home, and was so blinded by his fury that he accidentally walked into oncoming traffic? Worse yet, what if he was so heart broken that he purposely ran into traffic in an attempt to take his own life?

_No. No. No. Eren would never do that. Never. That's not something Eren would do. Eren is okay, and he's at the ocean. He's probably angry- but he'd never jump into traffic over it. _

_Of course... accidents still happen. _

_No! No! It couldn't be. There's no way. Eren is more careful than that. _

Armin did nothing but consume himself with thoughts of constant denial.

What has felt like an eternity later, the bus driver returned to his seat. He was quiet for a moment, and the entire bus held their breath in anticipation of any news about what was going on.

"Well, I imagine you've all realized it by now by a car collided with us." The bus driver announced to the silent passengers. "If anybody on this bus experienced an injury, please come inform me about it. "

Nobody moved.

"I'll assume that we got lucky, then. I'm not so sure about the others... They seem to have some injury." The driver announced nervously, wiping another bead of sweat from his forehead.

Leaning in towards Armin, Hanji whispered quietly, "Maybe somebody really is dead. I've never seen a dead body before. Would it be wrong to ask if I could go check it out?"

"H-Hanji..!" Armin squeaked quietly. "That's horrible. What if somebody really is dead..?"

"Right. It might be the only time in my life that this opportunity comes around." Hanji stated. Although their words sounded like a joke, they wore a serious expression.

"Well, if we're allowed to leave then I want to go too." Armin sighed.

_Just to check. To make sure Eren's not there of course. _

"Why don't we then?!" Hanji's eyes glistened with excitement at the thought. "Excuseee me! Mr. Driver!"

The driver slowly turned to face the two, looking troubled, possibly anticipating the announcement of an injury. "What is it..?" he asked, hesitantly.

"My little brother here has to go potty." Hanji explained, pointing a finger at Armin, whose face immediately burnt up into a bright red at the accusation. "I don't think he can hold it anymore. This really isn't good for him... Y'see... He sort of has this sensitive bladder and if we don't go to a bathroom soon, it's going to be everywhere, and honestly, that would be an awfully big mess for you to clean."

The bus driver gulped nervously. "I really... I don't know if I can let you go yet. I'll have to see." he murmured as he exited the bus in a rush.

"S-Sensitive bladder? Really?" Armin grumbled quietly.

"It was that or nervous diarrhea." Hanji smiled in amusement. "Anyway we can go see if it's your boyfriend that got hit or not."

A few moments later, the driver returned. "Alright, listen everybody." he stated. "You're all free to leave at this point, if you'd like. If you still need to arrive to your destination, you're welcome to stay. It's three-twenty now, and we should be moving again in about an hour or so."

After receiving permission to leave, many people began to file off of the bus. At the front of the group were Hanji and Armin, who had hoped to get a glimpse of the scene. Unfortunately for them, too many officers and cars surrounded the scene and they were quickly herded away from the immediate scene.

"I'm so disappointed." Hanji sighed. "Looks like we won't get to see a dead body today."

Armin furrowed his eyebrows. "That kind of worries me, but I'm a little relieved too."

"Just watch the news tonight, and you'll find out more about this." Hanji smiled, as they gave Armin a pat on the shoulder. "I must be going now. Lets meet in a plane crash next time!"

With that, the odd stranger from the bus was gone, but a strong feeling of worry and impending doom remained strong in Armin's heart.

There was only one more day for Armin to potentially meet up with Eren, and he prayed, with every ounce of his being, that Eren was safe and would be there to see him.


End file.
